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Fallacies of Our 
National Government 


By 

ALBERT C. RIGHTOR 


ILLUSTRATED 

By 

FRANKLIN M. LIPPINCOTT 



F. M. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 
Publishers 


PITTSBURGH, PA. 




Copyright 1912 
By 

A. C. RIGHTOR 
Pittsburgh, Pa. 


©CI.A327726 ''\ L 


PREFACE 


That the readers of this book may 
fully appreciate what the author has to say, 
he desires to state that he was among the 
millions that cheered for Cleveland, McKin¬ 
ley, Roosevelt and Taft, respectively, during 
their campaigns for the presidency of our 
country. 

The author proposes to prove, in diff¬ 
erent ways, that our National Government 
is no longer run “by the people and for 
the people” but by politicians and for pol¬ 
iticians, and the interests they represent, and 
that it is done to the detriment of the great 
majority of people; that this has been the 
case in a good many respects ever since 
President Lincoln was assassinated; that the 
Republican party of today is not the party 
of our martyred President Lincoln, whose 
memory we revere, any more than the 
Democratic party is the party of Jefferson, 
whose name all true Democrats honor and 
respect. 

It is also the purpose of the author to 
use such plain language in this book that 
even a school boy can read it understand¬ 
ing^. 



INDEX. 


I. Brief Early History of Our Country and 

the Trusts. 1 

II. The Oil Trust •. 6 

III. The Beef Trust. 9 

IV. The Sugar Trust ........ 11 

V. The Tobacco Trust.13 

VI. Other Trusts. 19 

VII. The Lumber Trust.21 

VIII. Prosecution and Persecution .... 42 

IX. Yellow Journalism ....... 49 

X. A Don Quixote Warfare.53 

XI. The U. S. Government's Pets .... 63 

XII. The Business Man's View.73 

XIII. Memorial Day.105 

XIV. Two Farmers Have a Chat.Ill 

XV. The Cross of Gold . 119 

XVI. Penn'a Shame, In Which Two U. S. Sen¬ 

ators Take Part.121 

XVII. The Great Curse.• . 137 

XVIII. The Great Ocean-Liner Titanic Sinks . 165 

XIX. Depends Upon Whose Ox is Being Gored 179 

XX. The Forgotten Millions.183 

XXI. Satan Appears in Congress .... 187 

XXII. “Armageddon".193 

XXIII. What Would Lincoln Do?.197 

XXIV. How President Taft Could Become • . 

Renowned ..201 

XXV. The Remedy and Victory.205 


































ILLUSTRATIONS 

The~ Great Emancipator 

Uncle Sam and the Snakes 

The Snakes Break the Glass Case 

The Mounted Knight 

The Prosperous Town 

The Deserted Town 

The Cross of Gold 

Doctor Silas C. Swallow 

Annual Ball at Washington 

Widows and Orphans of Drunkards 

Sinking of the Titanic 

Paupers Grave Yard 

General Neal Dow 

Hon. Charles R. Jones 

The Saloon Keeper’s Home 

The Hovel of Poor Little James and Jennie 



























































































































































* 



























































































THE GREAT EMANCIPATOR. 

Do we need emancipation to-clay? The author answers 
this question. 




Fallacies of Our National 
Government. 

CHAPTER I. 

Our country has passed through two terrible crises, 
and in both conflicts it was for the liberty of man— 
yes—and for wom<en and children, as well. 

Our forefathers had to battle with the Indians, 
go through all kinds of hardships and privations 
and see their loved ones murdered in their very 
presence, that they might lay the foundation of your 
liberty and mine, which was to follow, hundreds of 
years later. 

It is well for us to review these thrilling incidents 
in the lives of the earliest settlers of our country, 
that we may refresh our memories and keep 
our appreciation at the level that such great sacrifices 
merit as well as to make us esteem our privileges, 
and properly estimate our responsibilities to our fellow 
men and have due regard for the present and future 
welfare of our women and children. 

After the perils of Indian attack and French ag¬ 
gression were overcome, our forebears began to plan 
for union of the colonies, in which plan Benjamin 
Franklin took the initiative. He found that others 
were of the same mind, and we have only to refer to 
the pages of history to see how their plans were op- 


l 


Fallacies of Our National Government. 


posed by the mother countries, which were like certain 
elements in this country today, that oppose what is really 
best for all the people, and would grind to powder those 
who try to thwart their plans. So you see, dear reader, 
with all our boasted freedom, we are not really free. 

There are those in power today who would rob us 
of the freedom granted by the Constitution of these 
United States of America, to whom the writer will refer 
later. 

Opposition to right always stirs the blood and 
strengthens the determination of honest men to battle 
in its defense. This has not only been the nature, but 
the record of peoples and nations, throughout the his¬ 
tory of the world. We should not forget that Al¬ 
mighty God rules the destinies of men, and has always 
raised men for every great occasion, and will continue 
to do so, so long as the world lasts. 

The opposition of the mother country to the free¬ 
dom of those who had sought this new land to escape 
the tyranny of other governments, which had placed 
great burdens of taxation upon them, only embittered 
our ancestors the more and furnished them* immediate 
cause for the Revolutionary war. It was then tha.t 
such men as Washington, Green and Putnam came 
to the front, as leaders of their countrymen, and after 
seven or eight years of hard fighting, won the victory 
that made this a free country, and formed what God in¬ 
tended to be the grandest nation upon the earth. But 
it has not yet reached the high pinnacle of fame and 
prosperity that God has designed and it will not attain 
to such a position until certain obstacles are over- 


2 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


thrown. We cannot have fame while we hold on to 
things that debase our fellowmen. 

The independence of our country having been 
achieved, this people was moving steadily onward in 
prosperity and power, when the issue of slavery be¬ 
came crucial, and brought that social and political 
cleavage, whose result was the civil war. By the coming 
out in this great hour of a towering leader, whose 
peculiar endowments of moral powers give some rea¬ 
son for thinking that the Ruler of Nations prepared 
Lincoln for his colossal task, slavery was overthrown 
and the Union saved. 

It being foreign to the purpose of the author to 
write a history of the United States, but only briefly to 
refer to events that had to do with the formation of our 
country and national government, we will hurry on to 
the conditions that confront the people of the present 
day. 

When the clouds of civil strife had passed away, 
there came a period of wonderful industrial expansion. 
In this epoch the foundation of modern Big Business 
was laid. 

Keen competition in the world’s food markets 
caused men to lay the foundation of great business 
enterprises. Capital began to accumulate in great 
amounts and formed combinations of business com¬ 
petitors into syndicates and trusts, which later became 
monoplies. Then it was that business houses, represent¬ 
ing single enterprises, were transformed into depart¬ 
ment stores, carrying every variety of goods, to the det¬ 
riment of the small dealers. Then came the combina- 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


tions of capital in manufacturing lines, closely followed 
by expansions in the organization of labor unions 

Greed nearly always crops out where great 
wealth is concerned so as capital augmented and 
formed great enterprises, a desire on the part of those 
interested to not only compete with merchants of the 
other countries grew, but also a desire to control their 
particular lines. They also not only use their wits, but 
they began to use their money to have laws enacted that 
would help them to gain their points. Manufacturers 
wanted a tariff to protect them from outside competi¬ 
tion and they got the Republican Party to grant it. 

It was granted under a subterfuge that the gov¬ 
ernment desired to foster our infant industries, and 
thus was laid the corner-stone of one of the greatest 
crimes ever committed by a political party against the 
American people. 

The capitalists say “protect us with a high tariff 
and we will be able to make plenty of money and pay 
our laborers big wages”, (and in an underbreath) “we 
will also put up our share to keep the 'Grand Old Party’ 
in power.” What has been the result? Has labor re¬ 
ceived its due compensation ? The numerous strikes in 
this country in the past twenty years is one answer 
and the miserable hovels that thousands of workmen 
are compelled to live in is another and more direet 
answer. 

The writer has had an opportunity to visit some of 
the toilers’ homes, noting their bare floors—scant and 
broken furniture—no fire to warm by, and children 
with scant and ragged clothes, while the ground was 
covered with snow and the cold blasts of winter were 


4 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


whistling around the corners of the houses, and all of 
this while the millionaire employers were enjoying not 
only every comfort of life, but all the luxuries mioney 
could buy. 

If the manufacturers advance wages ten per cent, 
the Trust Newspapers throughout the country publish 
the fact in glaring headlines. But what about the cost 
of living that has advanced, in some cases, one hun¬ 
dred per cent ? And what about the unearned millions, 
that their taskmasters have piled up by m,eans of a 
protective tariff, at the expense of a poorly paid, half- 
starved and shivering class of workmen and suffering 
wives and children? Some workmen’s children are so 
poorly clad that they cannot attend public or Sunday- 
schools, and a great many of those who do attend are 
too hungry to get their minds on their studies. 

We talk about our grand, glorious country and 
boast of our “Grand Old Republican Party,” but does 
the preceding true picture of actual conditions warrant 
such boasting? Is it the land of the free?—and the 
brave? Under such conditions, has our national gov¬ 
ernment a right to inscribe “In God we trust” on our 
money? Would not “In the almighty dollar and the 
unmerciful millionaires we trust” be much more appro¬ 
priate ? 

One of the best and truest things William Jennings 
Bryan ever uttered, was when he referred to the 
“Cross of Gold.” A great many have made it their God. 


6 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


CHAPTER II. 

OIL TRUST 

Let us return to the Trusts, and review some of 
them briefly, that we may more fully appreciate what 
is to follow in the other pages of the book. 

The Standard Oil Company has been termed the 
Father of Trusts, as it was the first company to reach 
a state of power over its competitors. 

The head of, and the head that formed this com¬ 
pany, which has since grown so powerful under the 
nurture of our national government, has often been 
referred to as a “long head,” and it has proven true, 
for he, John D. Rockefeller, was looking a long way 
ahead, when he and some others formed his “famous 
company.” The writer bears the “distinction” of 
having been an employe of the Standard Oil Company, 
at one time, but he was “too small” for “Uucle John” to 
know of him. It was only the “higher-ups” that he 
knew of and gave orders to. 

All those who are familiar with the workings of 
the “Standard” know that its policy was to either buy 
or freeze out its competitors, and the writer happens 
to know of several cases of this kind. One of them 
was an old, gray-headed gentlemen, who had built up a 
nice little business, and was happy in his surroundings, 
but was forced to sell, and afterwards became an em¬ 
ploye of the company. 

The other gentleman, (for he was a gentleman, in 
the true sense,) was, like the writer, an employe of the 
company, and at the same time, but held a more im¬ 
portant position. He was manager of the refined oil 





Fallacies of Our National Government. 


department, for certain large territory for some years, 
but the company saw fit to move that certain head¬ 
quarters to another city and wanted him to take charge 
of the same department, in its new home. But as he 
had made this particular city his home from early boy¬ 
hood and the ties of kinship and friendship had 
become so endearing, he did not care to sever them and, 
besides, he thought he had worked for the company 
long enough and would start a little business of his 
own in the same line. So he declined the offer and be¬ 
gan to look for a site for his new enterprise. 

The “Standard” learned of his intentions, and did 
everything within its power to thwart him, even going 
so far as to have the city council object to him locating 
in certain localities, but he finally succeeded. 

When he opened his plant for business, the Stand¬ 
ard resorted to its old and well known trick of cutting 
the prices, but this gentleman had so many substantial 
friends among the business men that they stood by him, 
refused to buy from the “Standard” no matter what 
price it made. 

Here is a weapon that the public could always use 
effectively, if it only would. 

When the “Standard” learned that it was help¬ 
ing its gentleman opponent and injuring its own trade 
by its unscrupulous methods, it withdrew its opposition, 
and my friend marched onward and upward to success 
until today he is classed among the substantial business 
men of his city. 


7 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


This has been the “Standard's” policy for years, 
and the reading public is well acquainted with how it 
forced the railroad companies to give it rebates, and 
how it used this scheme to whip its competitors, while 
“Uncle Sam” looked on, but said nothing. 


8 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


CHAPTER III. 

BEEF TRUST. 

The policy of all trusts is practically the same. 
The men who formed the Beef Trust had a fine lesson 
set before them by the Oil Trust. The aim of the Beef 
Trust has been the same, namely, to control the meat 
market, and one way in which it has succeeded is by 
sending out agents thru the cattle sections of the 
country, and buying up everything in sight, or enough 
to give it control of the market. It knew what was left 
would not cut much of a figure, and that the retailer 
would have to come to it to supply his wants so that it 
could ask its own price, and the dealer would be com¬ 
pelled to pay. 

The Beef Trust, like the Oil Trust, has become so 
powerful that it openly defies the government, right in 
the heat of prosecution, by raising the price of meat. 
It claims to mjake only one quarter or one half of one 
per cent on its business. Did the public ever hear any¬ 
thing more ridiculous than this? Does anyone think, 
for a minute, that these Beef Barons are in business for 
their health, or that they are public benefactors? If 
he does, let him lose no time in dispelling such idiotic 
thoughts, for any merchant, with one tenth the intellect 
these barons are credited with, can make a great deal 
more than that; therefore, why should they use their 
“gray matter” to devise plans and schemes to carry on 
a great business, on such a small margin? And if 
this is all they make, why is meat from twenty to 
fifty per cent higher than it was a few years ago? 


9 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


The farmers and butchers say they are not getting 
the increase, and that being the case, it must be the 
Trust, and the millions it is piling up, bears the writer 
out in his assertion. 


10 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


CHAPTER IV. 

SUGAR TRUST. 

The magnates controlling the sugar industry of 
this country are such close kin to those in the oil and 
meat business that one would have to use a mag¬ 
nifying glass to detect the difference. The only dis¬ 
tinction that the writer has been able to note in his 
analysis is that their heads have a bump on them that 
has not appeared on the heads of their cousins, which 
indicates a tendency to “cheat their Uncle” and this 
may have brought them into disgrace with their 
“greasy and beefy” relatives. The several millions in 
fines seemed to have a leavening effect, as they have 
multiplied the amount by twenty, since that time, by 
raising the price consequently, the house-wives do 
not think they are half as sweet as they make out. 


11 




Fallacies of Our National Government. 


CHAPTER V. 

THE TOBACCO TRUST. 

On account of some “unpleasant experiences” with 
the “weed” during the writer’s boyhood days, he is 
somewhat averse to writing on this subject. 

Like most boys, in his younger days, (and he 
thinks that the boys of today are pretty much the 
same) he thought it looked “mannish” to smoke and 
chew tobacco, but unlike most of his companions, it 
made him sick every time he tried it, but a boy who 
gave up was considered a “weakling.” 

We are sorry to say that boys have so many false 
ideas of manhood. 

It was the custom of “our crowd” to take both 
smoking and chewing tobacco with us, on our hunting, 
fishing, swimming, nut-hunting and berry-gathering 
expeditions. The boy that could “bite off” and chew a 
big “hunk” of “Old Navy” was the hero of the camp. 

Many a time, when the writer was out on these 
trips, did he have to lay across a log to get rid of 
that peculiar pain that comes to some boys as a result 
of smoking and chewing. Such is the experience and 
its penalties to boys. 

A little later in life, while still in his teens, the 
writer had an opportunity to work one season on a 
tobacco farm in “Old Kaintuck.” We usually got into 
the “patch” about seven in the morning, 
when the plants were covered with dew, and the big, 
broad white burley leaves would reach up to our waists. 
Of course it would take only a few minutes for our 
trowsers to be soaking wet, and we would remain in 


13 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


that unpleasant condition until “Old Sol” got high 
enough and hot enough to dry us out. 

One who is not familiar with working in a tobacco 
field would think that those engaged in it would either 
have a bad cold all the time or contract pneumonia, but 
such is not the case, from the fact that there is some¬ 
thing about the weed that keeps one from catching 
cold. 

The principal work in tobacco, at this stage of 
its growth, is to catch the worms and kill them. They 
start from a very small specimen and grow to three or 
four inches in length and one half inch in diameter. 
They are anything but pleasant to look at, and are not 
conducive to increasing an appetite. They are dark 
green, with seven oblique, white stripes, bordered 
with dark brown, on each side of the body. They 
feed upon the leaves and are very injurious, inasmuch 
as they eat great holes in the leaves. The mode of 
destroying them is to wear long finger and thumb nails 
and clinch their heads between your thumb and fore¬ 
finger nails, and give your hand a quick, short sling 
towards the ground, and off comes their heads. 

Tobacco growing in those days, like it is at present, 
was a very profitable business to those who under¬ 
stood it, and it is, or was, before the Trusts were 
formed, very remunerative in its different branches 
of handling, after it leaves the farm, and it was this 
fact that tempted men to build great warehouses in 
which to store it. Competition between these large 
handlers became so keen that the larger ones got to¬ 
gether and formed combinations to freeze the small 
buyers and jobbers out. Then came the greater com- 


14 

















AREN’T THEY BEAUTIES? 




Fallacies of Our National Government. 


bination among the manufacturers, also to force the 
little fellows out so they could control the market, 
like their near kin had done—was doing and is doing 
today, in the oil, beef and sugar business, notwith¬ 
standing Federal suits. 

The Tobacco Trusts—for there are several of them 
—got control of the jobbing trade in the leaf, and were 
forcing the growers to accept low prices, and the grow¬ 
ers, or some of them, decided to raise less tobacco, in 
hope of getting better prices. But they soon learned 
that this would do no good, unless they could get a 
great many other farmers to do the same, so after 
failing, in this way, to adjust the matter, they went 
a step too far, by organizing themselves into “night- 
riders.” With masks on and armed with guns and 
pistols, they rode thru the country at night and warned 
their neighbors not to plant any tobacco that year, and 
told them if they did, the crops would be destroyed 
after they had them in their barns. Conditions went 
from bad to worse, until barns were fired at night, caus¬ 
ing heavy losses to their owners, and in some cases the 
farmers were taken from their homes and treated to tar 
and feathers, while others were shot down as they 
opened the doors of their houses. Others were held 
up on the public highways. 

The Governor of Kentucky called out the militia 
and had the soldiers watch the highways at night 
but all to no avail, as those they were looking for were 
too sharp to expose themselves. It cost the state 
thousands of dollars. It cost men their property and 
their lives. The night-riders created havoc and de¬ 
struction in their pathway. Yes, and poor woman. 


15 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


who always has to bear the brunt of such things, had 
to suffer the consequences, alone, with her fatherless 
children, and why ? Simply because our national gov¬ 
ernment had allowed a monster to be created and grow 
in our midst, unmolested until it had become powerful 
enough to cause all this trouble. And we ask why, 
again ? Because a few greedy men wanted to increase 
their already swollen wealth 

If we had the right kind of men in charge of the 
nation's affairs, at Washington, such things as the Oil 
Trust, Sugar Trust, Beef Trust and Tobacco Trust 
would never have been born, much less live and thrive, 
until they have reached such enormous proportions 
that they have become a menace to both property and 
life. If we had had the right kind of men in office, 
such things as a protective tariff, which was put into 
effect primarily to protect these robbers, would have 
never become a law. 

Other laws have been enacted in the interest of 
these preyers upon the public. They have sent their 
representatives to our legislative halls with money 
to pay for what they wanted, and they have got it. And 
at every presidential election they have to put up their 
hundreds of thousands, to keep in power a party,— 
or shall we say a ring—that has favored them. 

It is often called the Grand Old Party? It is, 
or at least has been the “Grand Old Protector of High¬ 
way Robbers.” 

What is the U. S. Government doing today but 
fighting the very things it has created? It cannot 
shoulder the blame on someone else, for it is alone 
responsible. The Government has been in partnership 


16 






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I NEVER SUSPECTED THIS! 

















































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Fallacies of Our National Government. 


with Trusts for years. It has permitted them to become 
so powerful that when it “supposedly” has undertaken 
to curb the Trusts, the whole financial system* of our 
country was staggered. 

Like the gigantic Steel Trust, other Trusts have 
come out into the open and defied the government, 
and as much as told it to mind its own business, and 
like a boy, who has been allowed to pursue his own 
course until he is nearly grown, the Trusts have be¬ 
come real impudent. The President has told them that 
they can take their choice of being curbed, or accept 
socialism. Socialism is growing fast, and the way our 
government has been conducted forces the issue. 
Socialists are coming to the front rapidly. They are 
gaining headway throughout the country, and are 
electing men to various offices, up to the mayoralty of 
some of our principal cities. This is not all, they 
will continue to grow, until conditions are changed 
to such a degree that the poor man and man of ordin¬ 
ary means shall have a voice in the conduct of our 
national affairs, preventing rotten politicians and cor¬ 
rupt millionaires from running things. 

Bellamy's idea of government would be a big im¬ 
provement over our present form, from the fact that 
the great majority of people would be better off socially, 
intellectually, physically, etc, etc. About the only 
people that would not benefit thereby, would be million¬ 
aires, and who cares for them? Have they not made 
their millions off the common people ? If they did not 
like the new conditions, they could hike their lazy 
bones to the kingdoms of Europe, where millionaires 
are loved, especially, if they have daughters to marry 


17 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


off to worthless Princes—Dukes and Counts. 

The writer recalls the death of a certain rich man 
in the South, when he was a boy, and after death, his 
fingers turned black, and his colored servants said it 
was because he had cheated so many negros. If there 
is anything in this theory, we wonder what color the 
hands of some of Wall Street’s magnates will turn, 
when they die? 


18 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


CHAPTER VI. 

OTHER TRUSTS. 

We have Trusts galore, all of which have sprung 
up under the direct notice of and have been nursed by 
the Grand Old Party. 

There is the Electrical Trust—Bath Tub Trust— 
Coffin Trust—Butter Trust—Money Trust—Gambling 
Trust—Beer Trust and Whisky Trust, and if there is 
any other Trust that we have overlooked, we “trust” 
our readers will forgive us. 

We will not attempt to analyze these various 
Trusts, but will say something about several of them 
further on. 

At this particular place the writer would like for 
you to bear with him a few moments, while we take 
a look at the Gambling Trust. We mean by the Gam¬ 
bling Trust those fellows who have made their millions 
by gambling in food stuff. This is a crime against the 
people, for they have been forced to pay millions of 
dollars, in false values, to such men as Armour and 
Patton. 

If our “Grand Old Party” had been the friend of 
the people as it claimed to be, this detestable piece 
of highway robbery would have been nipped in the bud 
and never allowed to continue thru the number of years 
it has been going on. The worse feature about this 
business is, it hurts the poor people more than any 
other class. If the government had been in the hands 
of the people, instead of corrupt politicians, laws could 
and would have been made to prevent such things, and 
would have been enforced. 


19 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


The trouble with most of our laws is their phrase¬ 
ology is so ambiguous (and designedly so,) that it is 
hard to get two attorneys to agree on them. For ex¬ 
ample^—in Pennsylvania they have a Mechanics Lien 
Law, which is supposed to protect the individual or 
firm, who furnishes building material for a building. 
The law covers a number of pages in a book of good 
size, and the language is so misleading, or faulty, 
that the very best attorneys in the state differ as to 
its meaning. 

A leading contractor of Philadelphia told us not 
long ago that they had both won and lost cases in 
court that were identical. 

A prominent member of the legislature also told 
us that he thought the law was rotten and should be 
repealed and replaced by another law that could be 
written on a post card, in language so plain that a 
school boy could not go wrong in interpreting it. This 
is the writer’s idea of law. Too many loop-holes are 
put into our laws that enable rascals to crawl out 
when they should be convicted. Too many rich ras¬ 
cals are allowed to go “scott free” that should be put 
behind the bars instead of paying fines. Do you won¬ 
der that Socialism is growing in the face of such in¬ 
justice? 


20 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


CHAPTER VII. 

THE LUMBER TRUST. 

The writer has had considerable experience in the 
lumber business. His first experience was with a big 
saw mill company, as tally boy. In a short while he 
was promoted to inspector, then advanced to time¬ 
keeper and book-keeper. Later in life, living in another 
part of the country, he filled the position of book¬ 
keeper and then traveling salesman. The next move 
found him in Pennsylvania where he has served the re¬ 
tail lumber dealers as secretary of two city associations 
and a state association and last as secretary of a com¬ 
mercial company. With this varied experience in the 
lumber business in three different states and knowing 
men in all branches of the trade, from coast to coast, 
he feels that he is competent to discuss the subject 
of a lumber trust. 

A great many people these days go astray in their 
opinions because they lack knowledge of things they 
pass judgment on. The writer, along with millions of 
others, has been guilty of this mistake. Most of us are 
too hasty in forming ideas and making deductions. 

Many a man and woman has been wronged by 
mis judgment. Many a good friend has been lost 
through this hasty method. If we would always seek 
the truth first we would save many a heart pang. How 
would you like to be accused of something of which you 
know as well as you know you are living, was false, and 
your name would appear in the newspapers throughout 
the country as one who had violated the laws of your 
country, and if you should deny it and try to get the 


21 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


same papers that published the falsehood about you, to 
state your side of the story and they would absolutely 
refuse to do so? Yes, dear reader, how would you feel? 
Well, it has been done a number of times, and for this 
reason we are going to ask you to kindly follow us 
through a little review of the lumber industry of this 
country, that you may know the true facts, which we 
will state to the best of our knowledge. 

Some twenty years ago, fine timber of various 
kinds was very plentiful in different parts of our 
country, and it was no trouble to plant a saw mill 
almost any place and get all the timber needed, close 
at hand, to keep the mill going for some years, and the 
mills were located along some of our leading railroads 
and switches were run into the yards, so that the 
lumber could be loaded with little trouble and at small 
expense. 

As our country has grown at a rapid rate, re¬ 
quiring billions of feet of lumber and heavy timbers— 
railroad ties — telegraph and telephone poles — 
freight and passenger car material, etc., it drew on 
this plentiful supply until the timber was all cut out 
near the railroads and the mills had to be moved and 
removed, until they got many miles away from trans¬ 
portation facilities. Moving the mills (which rr^eans 
to tear down and rebuild) is as the reader would natur¬ 
ally suppose,) rather expensive. If this moving of the 
mills had been all the expense the timber and mill own¬ 
ers had been put to, it would not have been so bad, but 
as the lumbermen got further and further away from 
the main lines, it became necessary to build railroads of 
their own to tap the trunk lines. Now, building rail- 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


roads is not the least expensive thing in this country. 
When timber was near and plentiful, lumber was cheap, 
but when it got scarce and all the extra expense was in¬ 
curred, which we have just related, of course lum¬ 
ber advanced, and it was not only perfectly nat¬ 
ural for it to advance, but it was absolutely necessary 
to advance the price in order to come out even. For 
awhile, and at different periods, it was sold by the manu¬ 
facturer at a loss. This was especially true during the 
panic of 1893 and 1894. After this, lumber steadily 
advanced for the reasons we have stated. In addition 
to the big demand at home, billions of feet are exported. 

It is the scarcity of any article that makes it ex¬ 
pensive. Suppose that gold were as plentiful as silver, 
would it be worth about twenty times as much? We 
have told you something of the manufacturer's end of 
the business—now we will tell you of the retailer's side. 

When lumber was so plentiful and cheap, it did 
not cost nearly as much to build a hom,e, and in those 
days a great many people could and did acquire hoboes 
who could not do so today, if they had it to do over 
again. And in those days it required just about half 
as much money to engage in the retail business as 
it does now, and the retailer's profits were just about 
double what they are today and this fact alone, (which 
is a fact), should dispel from the minds of all fair-mind¬ 
ed people that because lumber is high the retail lumber 
dealers of the United States are in a combination to 
boost prices . We dare say there is not a retail lumber 
dealer in the United States who would not gladly go 
back to conditions that obtained when lumber was sell¬ 
ing for about half what it can be bought for today. 


23 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


Those were happy, prosperous days for the lumber deal¬ 
ers, and the conditions that prevailed then will never 
be experienced again, for different reasons. 

The retail lumber dealers* life is not the happy, 
smooth-sailing, go-as-you-please thing that some people 
would suppose. They have their troubles, and plenty 
of them. The retail end of the business is the worst 
end, by far. The retailer has to have a good sized 
ground space to store his lumber and build his sheds, 
and his yard should be near, or on a railroad, so he can 
unload and load cars in the yard. A big outlay of money 
is here required before he buys a stick of lumber. Then 
come to teams and other incidentals. His stock is ex¬ 
posed to the weather and danger of fire. His fire insur¬ 
ance rates are high. He has to take all kinds of chances 
on losing money, by selling to contractors who have 
nothing but a reputation to back them. Often these 
fellows collect not only what is due them for their labor, 
but what belongs to the lumber dealer, and skip out 
over night. Hundreds of thousands of dollars have 
been lost in this way. And then there is the dishonest 
owner, who sometimes beat both the contractor and 
the merchant. On top of all these hazards come the 
fellows who try to play a double game, by selling to the 
retailer and then searching out his customers and try¬ 
ing to sell to them at or about the same prices the re¬ 
tailer was charged. A good many of these “Sharks” have 
8x10 offices, in some cheap office building, and are un¬ 
der very little or no expense, and they prey upon the 
legitimate retailer who has incurred a great expense, 
to fit up an establishment that becomes a necessity in 
his community, because he carries in stock practically 


24 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


everything that a person can call for in his line, while 
the “shark” buys a cheap grade of some particular line 
from an unreliable manufacturer, and creates the im¬ 
pression that he is a great benefactor. 

If the public had to depend upon such people for 
what they required in the building line they would 
soon find out that the men who operate the yards were 
indispensable, just as much so as a retail drug or 
grocery store is. 

Such things as we have just mentioned, along with 
a number of others, just as bad, led the lumber dealers 
in different states to organize associations, that they 
might inform each other in regard to all such practices, 
which were threatening the life of their trade. It was as 
far back as thirty years ago that the first retail lumber 
association was organized, and they have been organ¬ 
izing ever since, and every one of them has been 
organized primarily for the same purpose, namely, self 
preservation. And what is self preservation if it is 
not to protect one's self and his property and business ? 
What does a city have its police force for ? And why 
does the U. S. Government spend millions of the people's 
mpney every year for battleships ? If cities and state 
and national governments have a right to protect them¬ 
selves against the unlawful and those that would prey 
upon them if it were not for their means of protection, 
why have not individuals the same right to band them¬ 
selves together for the purpose of defending their in¬ 
terests ? 

The lumber associations have a number of things 
to look after besides those mentioned. There is their 
dealings with the railroad companies, who carry their 


25 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


lumber from the mills to the yards. They are often 
handicapped by having cars of lumber on the road for 
a month or more, and some times cars are wrecked 
and lumber damaged or totally lost. Freight rates are 
to be adjusted, etc. Then come questions of mutual 
fire insurance. The mutual companies^ that have been 
formed by the different associations throughout the 
country have saved the lumber dealers hundreds of 
thousands of dollars and this has been a benefit to the 
general public, for by reducing their expenses they 
have been able to sell cheaper. Big expenses have a 
great deal to do with the selling price of anything. 
The Lumber Dealers’ Associations also take up the ques¬ 
tion of proper handling and storing of lumber, which 
enables them to give the public better material than 
it formerly obtained. The Lumber Associations 
have also worked for uniform and universal grades of 
all kinds of lumber and this is likewise a benefit to the 
public, for when they ask John Smith for a certain 
grade of flooring, ceiling, etc., they can expect to get 
the same article that they purchased from Sam Jones, 
unless John Smith happens to be like the “skinner” we 
have already mentioned, who would stoop to cheat on 
both grades and measurement. 

We spoke of the retailers’ losses to worthless con¬ 
tractors and property owners, but we did not tell how 
the retail dealers carry a good many of these poor 
fellows through the winter, which enables them to keep 
the wolf from the door. One can look the United States 
over and he will not find a class of business men who are 
more charitable—bigger-hearted—more law-abiding 
and God-fearing than the retail lumber dealers of this 
country. 


26 



Fallacies of Our National Government, 


In all our experience with them, we have yet to 
hear of an association that has been organized for, or 
later had for its object, the raising of prices or the 
stifling of competition. They believe in that rule that 
teaches them “to do by others as they wish to be done 
by,” and their customers know this better than any one 
else. 

Many a poor lumber dealer has been forced to the 
wall through being too charitable—too big hearted, for 
his own good. 

We have cited some very good reasons for the ad¬ 
vance in the price of lumber, but there are other rea¬ 
sons, in which the retailer plays no part and greatest of 
these is freight, which, as the timber has grown scarce, 
has increased by reason of the longer haul. Let us 
take Pittsburgh for example. Twenty-five years ago 
Pennsylvania had some very fine forests, which made 
certain kinds of lumber cheap because of the proximity 
of the supply, but as the trees were thinned out and the 
demand increased, by reason of the steady growth of 
the city and other cities and towns throughout the 
state, buyers began to reach out into other states for 
certain kinds of wood, until today a large proportion 
of their wants is supplied from the forests of other 
states, distant from one thousand to twenty-five hun¬ 
dred miles. Would you think that in som*e cases—yes 
a great many cases—the freight on a car of lumber 
amounts to more than the retailer pays the manu¬ 
facturer? It is absolutely so. Now, for example, 
take a car of yellow pine that is worth $16.00 per 
thousand feet on board the cars in Louisiana, 
when it reaches Pittsburgh it is worth 


27 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


$32.00 per thousand. Now add to this the retailer’s pro¬ 
profit, out of which has to come taxes and insurance, 
—interest on investment—office help—yard men— 
teamsters, etc., which necessarily adds at least fifteen 
percent more, which would make a total of twenty per 
cent added in Pittsburgh, to enable the retailer, (who 
has to take the chances of fire and bad sales, etc.), to 
make a measly five per cent. Because of close competi¬ 
tion in trade, a good many have been forced out of 
business, while others are struggling along, trying their 
best to keep their heads above water. A great many of 
them would quit, if they could find some one foolish 
enough to buy. Do these conditions look like those 
that surround a trust? If they do we are sure we 
would not care to buy any of the stock. If the writer 
had ten million dollars to invest, not one penny of it 
would find lodgment in any branch of the lumber bus¬ 
iness. 

We think we have proven, pretty conclusively, 
that the retail dealers in lumber have nothing to do 
with the high prices of that commodity. 

About five years ago Senator Kettridge had a bill 
introduced in the senate calling for an investigation 
of the lumber business, and the government agents 
began on the manufacturers and timber land owners 
in different parts of the country. From the time that 
the search for the goose that laid the golden egg was 
begun, the newspapers of the country began publish¬ 
ing articles with big head lines about the Lumber 
Trust, and they have never ceased, altho they know 
just about as much about the subject as a monkey 
knows about fried oysters and ice cream. The invest- 


28 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


igation did not worry the lumber dealers, for they knew 
that they had no trust. But when the matter dragged 
along year after year, without a report from the Gov¬ 
ernment to show guilt or innocence, the situation was 
having a depressing effect upon the business. Differ¬ 
ent associations in the country requested the Gov¬ 
ernment to make a report stating that it had had 
ample time to learn all that was necessary for any one 
to know, in order to make known its findings. Right 
here let us state, that if individuals and corpor¬ 
ations should take as long to learn certain things that 
they want to know, and their business depended on 
them finding out, they would “go to the wall” a long 
time before they got what they were searching for. 

A few months after the retail associations of the 
country asked the Department of Justice to hurry up 
with its investigation, fourteen secretaries, of state 
associations were indicted, by a Federal Grand Jury, 
in Chicago. The indictment charged an unlawful and 
felonious conspiracy to restrain interstate trade, vir¬ 
tually by means of the publication of the names of 
manufacturers and wholesale dealers, who sold lumber 
to mail order houses, contractors and consumers. The 
basis of the indictment was the correspondence between 
various secretaries, the acts of the lumber Secretaries' 
Bureau of Information and the publication in the Scout 
of names of concerns supplying mail order institutions 
with material, or selling direct to other than retail 
lumber dealers also the publication of ideas and sug¬ 
gestions for impressing upon manufacturers and 
wholesalers the fact that retail lumbermen viewed 
such sales with disfavor. 


29 



Fallacies of Our National Government, 


The Federal Grand Jury claimed that overt acts 
were committed by correspondence and thru the publi¬ 
cation of lists of names of concerns whose operations 
were considered inimical to the welfare of the retail 
lumber dealer. Thirteen letters sent thru the mail, 
or printed in the publication known as the Scout, were 
cited in the indictment. The files of the various as¬ 
sociation secretaries were placed at the disposal of the 
government during the search for information, and 
it is reasonable to presume that the letters given were 
as strong as any that could have been selected. 

The jury also stated that the Secretaries’ Bureau 
of Information had no capital—was not trying to re¬ 
strict territory or control prices. Does this sound 
as if they had a trust ? Can they say as much for the 
Oil Trust— Beef Trust—Sugar Trust—Tobacco Trust 
—Butter Trust and others ? 

Not more than three of the secretaries are en¬ 
gaged in the lumber business, and the others know 
nothing whatever about prices. They could not tell 
the price of a particular kind of lumber if it would save 
therm from the gallows. A fine lot of fellows to be 
“at the head” of a gigantic trust aren’t they ? 

A dealer said to us one day, in talking about the 
indictment, that he wished it were possible to do some 
of the things the government was charging them with, 
probably they could make some rmoney. 

It is the consensus of opinion, among the lumber 
dealers of the United States, that a certain element, 
whose unscrupulous methods have been exposed in dif¬ 
ferent ways, by the lumber merchants is back of all 
the government persecution of an innocent industry. 


30 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


We say innocent, because we have offered sufficient 
proof on the preceding pages, to explode the fallacy 
of a trust, as claimed by the enemies of the lumber¬ 
men. Certain things happened, almost simultaneously, 
with the returning of the indictments against the lum¬ 
ber secretaries that speak very plainly. Certain cat¬ 
alogue and mail order houses sent out great blanket 
sheets of reproductions of newspaper articles, about 
the secretaries of the lumber trust being indicted, 
the reading of which showed very plainly that the 
articles had been written for the occasion, and paid for. 
These purveyers of falsehood have practically ac¬ 
knowledged that they are back of the entire prosecu¬ 
tion. 

For the benefit of our readers we are going to 
give a copy of a circular letter that one of these con¬ 
cerns sent to the editors of country newspapers in 
different sections of the country. We want our readers 
to note that we say country newspapers—the papers 
that are supposed to reach the farmers—for it is the 
farmers, who know very little about grades and prices, 
that they can best fool. The letter is as follows, word 
for word:— 

Gentlemen:— 

Will you please read the enclosure with this letter? 
This is a reproduction of the newspaper reports of the 
United States Government’s investigation of the re¬ 
tail lumber dealers’ associations. We are sending this 
to you for two reasons. 

In the past you have taken our word from time to 
time for the deep significance of the persecution we 
have suffered at the hands of the retailers’ associa- 


si 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


tions. We say you have taken our word for it because 
perhaps we haven’t given you documentary evidence 
proving the extent of their organized warfare against 
all firms selling building material other than through 
dealers. 

We have been made the target for the most vicious 
and constant persecution because we were first in the 
field as specialists and heavy advertisers of the lumber 
and millwork business. 

Our success meant perpetual low price competition 
for lumber retailers. Our failure would mean a clear 
field and the privilege of continued high prices; in fact 
a comfortable long profit future. 

As a consequence from the first day of Gordon- 
Van Tine Company’s operations the lumbermen, the 
employes and officials of their associations have been 
peculiarly savage in their opposition. 

We are sending you this concrete evidence proving 
that what we have told you up to this time has been 
mild compared to the complaints we might have made. 

Wq furthermore want to show you that their 
enmity has at no time been lulled to sleep; that it is just 
as lively today as it ever has been. And that we need 
your co-operation for survival more at this moment 
than we ever did. 

The methods of the lumber dealers’ associatoins 
have become so venomous as to be law-breaking to the 
point where the United States Government felt that 
the safety of all business depended on stamping out 
this commercial menace. 

We doubt if business history has ever shown an 


S2 



Fallacies of Our National Government, 


indictment so sweeping as has been returned in the 
case of the Government in its investigation against the 
lumber dealers’ associations. Note that this last in¬ 
dictment resulted from the investigation of the as¬ 
sociations west of Pennsylvania. Similar indictments 
were returned against the associations and their 
officials east of Pennsylvania some five weeks ago. 

We have given you in previous communications 
information parallel to that developed by the Govern¬ 
ment investigators. But we want to, in this case, show 
you definitely how radical is the case of the people 
represented by the Government against the combin¬ 
ations of lumbermen. We believe that there never 
was a time when one house deserved the conscien¬ 
tious editorial defense and endorsement that we merit. 

Bear in mind this fact: As long as we sold build¬ 
ing material through the dealers we were unmolested. 
But as soon as we began to market building material 
to the consumer direct, using advertising in Farm 
Publications, catalogs, letters and printed matter 
for that purpose, we were subjected to the most rabid 
attacks of which any firm to our knowledge has been 
the victim. 

You can readily believe that it has required the 
most desperate work and constant vigilance to pre¬ 
serve our business. You can realize that it has taken 
courage and nerve to continue our advertising and ex¬ 
tend it as we have. 

You can understand how grateful we are to those 
publishers who in the past have been kind to us and 
have written editorially in favor of us as so many have. 

The very fact that we are aggressive advertisers 


33 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


more than any other has caused the conspiracies of 
the retailers’ associations to center upon us. 

We have been blacklisted by lumbermens’ publica¬ 
tions. Secret correspondence of worse than black- 
hand character marks us for commercial murder. 
Our mail has been loaded with “phony” inquiries. 
Spies have worked in our offices. Employes have 
been bribed to give up information. 

The most active imagination can scarcely conceive 
the extent of the depredation upon our business. The 
sole reason for their plotting and machinations against 
us is that we sell our materials of guaranteed quality 
at lower prices to consumer, the readers of your 
paper and others direct by mail instead of by a method 
that will yield the dealer a profit. 

As to our character, the conspirators never gave 
a thought. We were preyed upon because we devised 
a new merchandising system for distributing what has 
become one of the prime necessities in the farmer’s 
operations, namely, building material. 

The final consequences of these criminal acts of 
the lumbermen have never been considered: That we, 
though engaged in a competitive business, confer a ben¬ 
efit upon the farmer has never been considered in our 
favor by these men with whom we have competed for 
trade. We stood for a new lower cost system of dis¬ 
tributing our merchandise. For that alone we were 
condemned. For that alone we were subjected to 
everything but physical violence. 

We have never been able to prove that incen¬ 
diaries fired our mammoth warehouse in November 
of 1909. But it is a fact that in the dead of night this 


34 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


great building of ours was destroyed by fire. That 
would have wiped a less courageous management off 
the earth. 

So it is fitting that now that the whole story has 
been told before the government jury, that we lay all 
this case before you again. 

We do not make any frenzied plea for readers for 
gratuitous advertising. 

But what we do say is that our position is such 
that we desire to ask that the facts in the case be 
written up and published in your columns for the in¬ 
formation of your readers. 

Now your readers can learn as they never could 
know before how shamefully we have been slandered 
by those dealers who have talked against us. Now 
your readers can know that the right is on our side. 
Now they can know that we have been persecuted be¬ 
cause we sought to give them bigger values at lower 
prices. 

And if we can have such comment from your pub¬ 
lication as will place the merits of the case before the 
people, then good will come out of the tribulations 
we have been through. We will in fact be the gainers 
because we have been most conservative in stating 
conditions to you in the past. 

We would like to have you take time to read what 
we are handing you herewith. Possess yourself of the 
full merits of our case and what has been brought out 
by Government investigations. It is surely a new era 
in unlawful competition. 

And for that reason as stated in the foregoing 


35 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


we believe you will see that we deserve the editorial 
explanation and endorsement that we have suggested. 

May I have your acknowledgment by an early mail 
so that I may know personally that this subject which 
is so close to our hearts is recognized in its full impor¬ 
tance by you and your editors? 

Yours very truly, 

Gordon-Van-Tine Co. 

By H. V. Scott Vice Pres. 

The aim of these concerns has been to urge the 
government officials to prosecute the lumber dealers, in 
the hope of diverting the government's attention from 
them and their unscruplous manner of deceiving the 
public. Their methods of diverting attention to some 
one else remind the writer of an incident, in the very 
city where most of these concerns are located, and it 
may be that they were taught at the same school. The 
incident to which we refer happened on a prominent 
thoroughfare. A very stylishly costumed lady was pas¬ 
sing a certain place, when suddenly a small boy ran up 
to her and put his arms around her waist, and in a 
pleading voice said,“please mum, don’t let those boys 
hurt me!” The lady raised her eyes in the direc¬ 
tion he had indicated and beheld the boys coming 
toward her at a high rate of speed, and, raising her 
hand, she motioned them to stay back, but on they 
came, and when they were within a short distance 
the little chap, who had seemingly sought her pro¬ 
tection, ran down the street with the other 
boys in hot pursuit. The lady thought it 
was just terrible that those larger boys should be 
after such a small boy, but she was powerless to lend 


36 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


any assistance. She continued on her shopping tour, 
entered a big department store, and bought several 
articles — reached for her pocket book and was 
stunned to learn that she did not have it. “What on 
earth has become of it!” she asked herself, after 
making several futile attempts to locate it. She re* 
marked to the young lady clerk, that she knew 
she had it when she had left the other store, a short dis¬ 
tance up the street. Then it dawned upon her m£nd 
that the “little rascal” who had sought her protection 
from the other boys had taken it while he had his 
arms around her waist. So while these “would be” 
public benefactors who “can buy so much cheaper” than 
other concerns, and “sell at cost, everything under the 
sun,” are trying to fool Uncle Sam, they, (like Old 
Barnum, the showman, said) “are also fooling part of 
the public,” but as Lincoln said—“they cannot fool 
them all,” and this is where “the rub comes”. It is 
folly for these concerns to try to make the public 
believe that they can buy lumber—doors, sash, blinds 
and other articles in the building line, cheaper, when, 
as we have proven on the preceding pages, timber 
is scarce, which makes lumber high, and this being 
the case, why should any manufacturer of lumber 
sell these concerns any cheaper than they will sell any 
legitimate retail lumber dealer in this country ? Why, 
we have seen some of their ads where they have claim¬ 
ed to sell twenty five per cent cheaper than the retail 
lumber merchants do. This is not only an impossibility, 
but it is just what it shows itself to be—an unquali¬ 
fied falsehood, and this is the proof. The manufac¬ 
turers of lumber are not making more than 10 per cent. 


37 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


The wholesalers, who handle their products, are 
not making more than 6 or 7 per cent, and the great 
majority of retail merchants are not clearing more 
than 5 per cent and some of them, by reason of strong 
competition, (which does not exist under trust con¬ 
ditions,) have been forced out of business. Others, 
who belong to trade associations, have a hard time 
raising $10.00 a year to pay their annual dues. 
Now in the face of these facts (for they are facts and 
not fancy) how is it that the catalogue houses can 
sell 25 per cent or 1 per cent cheaper than any reliable 
retailer, and declare big dividends to their Wall Street 
stockholders ? Can you answer the question ? You will 
note in their letter to the editors of the country 
newspapers, that they practically accuse the retail lum¬ 
ber dealers of setting lire to one of their warehouses. 
Now, what do you suppose any lumber merchant would 
want to put himself on an equal with them for, by re¬ 
sorting to such a contemptible trick ? What would, or 
what could he gain by it? Don’t you suppose they 
carry insurance? 

It is not only the lumber merchants that have ex¬ 
posed these fellows, but the hardware dealers, jewelers 
and others. 

A large stove and range factory in Michigan has 
been sending out big folders, printed in glaring colors, 
to the retail stove dealers of the country, showing how 
the catalogue houses have been fooling the people with 
their cheap stoves. 

The truth of the matter is, there is not a respect¬ 
able retail merchant in this country, in any line of 


ss 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


business, who cannot compete with these “boasted ben¬ 
efactors,” if grades—weights and measurements are 
considered, and they have been undersold thousands 
and thousands of times. 

We have been hearing a great deal about the 
parcel post, and a great many newspapers have tried 
to create the impression that the farmers are working 
harder than any other class for a law that will give 
them parcel postage, but the fellows that are working 
the hardest, and putting up the money are the catalog 
and mail order houses. And who would such a law ben¬ 
efit most ? The farmer ? No, for we have shown where 
these fellows prey upon the farmer, the same as a gang 
of wolves preys upon unprotected travelers in the un¬ 
settled countries. What the merchants of this country 
should do, is to ask the Department of Justice to look in 
to the methods of these concerns—examine the class of 
goods they are selling—compare them with what they 
are advertising in their catalogues, and also with sim¬ 
ilar goods, sold by legitimate merchants. Compare both 
cost and selling price, and then have them explain to 
the public how they can pay their Wall Street Stock¬ 
holders such large dividends, while they claim* to under¬ 
sell everybody in business. If they have a rabbit foot, 
or Aladdin Lamp, that enables them to do these won¬ 
derful things, then the retail merchants will have to 
get the same things or close their shops. 

Since writing this chapter on the “lumber trust” 
we noticed an article in The Chicago Daily News that 
may throw some light on several things we have said. 
The article says: “Rosenwald sees Taft. Rumored in 


39 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


Washington, Chicagoan may take charge of Campaign 
Finances. 

Washington, D. C., Feb. 29, 1912—Political signif¬ 
icance was attached to-day to the series of conferences 
covering several hours which has been held at the White 
House, between President Taft and Julius Rosenwald, 
of Chicago, one of the MOST ACTIVE and one of the 
LARGEST CONTRIBUTORS to the TAFT MOVE¬ 
MENT. Mr. Rosenwald also had a long talk withl Con¬ 
gressman McKinley, Manager of President Taft's pre¬ 
convention Campaign, yesterday. After the call at the 
Taft headquarters, Mr. Rosenwald went to the White 
House, where he held the first of his conferences with 
the President, and remained in the city over night. 
He was there again this morning and was with Pres¬ 
ident Taft at 1:30 p. m. luncheon. 

One report, which did not receive either official 
confirmation or denial, was that Mr. Rosenwald may 
take charge of the financial end of the Taft campaign. 
Mr. Rosenwald is president of SEARS-ROEBUCK & 
CO., and in former campaigns in which he has 
been INTERESTED, notably the Merriam mayoralty 
fight in Chicago, has CONTRIBUTED LIBERALLY 
from his personal resources. He DECLINED to discuss 
his visit. 

A call by Mr. Rosenwald at the White House, at 
any other time, would not be especially significant, as 
he is a WARM FRIEND of the PRESIDENT and a 
FREQUENT VISITOR. It was only a short time ago, 
when the elevation of Charles Nagel to the Supreme 
bench was talked of, that Mr. Rosenwald was looked 
upon as the latter's successor in the Cabinet, as the 


40 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


Secretary of the Department of Commerce and Labor.” 

We wonder how the one million retail merchants 
of this country regard this warm friendship between 
President Taft and the president of Sears-Roebuck 
& Co. 

Do they now consider the National Federation of 
Retail Merchants a necessity ? 


41 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


CHAPTER VIII. 

Prosecution and Persecution 

“It is hard to kick against the pricks.” It is hard 
for one to turn his back on old friends, especially when 
they have helped to support him for a number of years. 
And another view of this question is, that it is hard to 
turn against things of your own creation. Such is the 
history of the trusts and their father, the “Grand Old 
Party.” 

Prosecution, did you say? What has brought it 
about ? What has caused this great change in the pol¬ 
icy of the “Old Party ?” A great many think that it is 
public? clamor, while others say it is fear of socialism. 
The writer believes it the latter cause. Hundreds of 
thousands believe it is not in either of the old par¬ 
ties to bring about the changes that the people of this 
country desire, therefore Socialism will continue to grow 
as the result of dissatisfaction am,ong the oppressed, 
the suffering and “forgotten millions.” It has been too 
long a country for a few thousand rich, to the detri¬ 
ment of the great majority of others. The rich have 
grown richer and the poor have become poorer under 
the argis of the G. O. P. 

The Republican party, or rather President Taft, 
thru his Department of Justice, sends out agents to in¬ 
vestigate the Trusts and when the agents return with 
what they consider sufficient evidence to convict, suits 
are instituted against some of the real trusts while 
others are not molested. 

As Barnum, the showman, once said “the American 
people are not satisfied unless some one is fooling them,” 


42 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


so the two old political parties have taken turn about 
with first one issue and then another. It has been a 
political game all the way thru, with the people as 
martyrs, and we are suffering today either as a result 
of a political trick or past “school boy” administrations, 
for any one of a dozen young law students from Yale 
or Harvard could have done much better and saved 
the country from all this turmoil and business de¬ 
pression. 

A great many of Mr. Roosevelt’s friends and ad¬ 
mirers are of the opinion if he had remained in office 
things would have been different that he would have 
at least confined his efforts to the operations of the 
department of justice, to real oppressors and not 
have gone chasing every business organization in the 
country, simply because it might be thought popular, 
or because the public in general desired it. 

There is a wide difference between a great aggre¬ 
gation of capital, that has for its object the stifling 
of competition, (such as here are often mentioned) and 
business associations. 

If the government’s present course should be con¬ 
tinued, even the lodges, fraternal orders, the W. C. T. 
U., charity organizations, Sunday schools and churches 
will not be safe from inspection and supervision. 

There is, or rather should be, reason used in all 
things and a certain amount of good common sense 
is a mighty valuable asset, especially in dealing with 
the great problems that are now before us, as a result 
of—well, the writer hardly knows what to call it, but 
whatever it is, it is radically wrong to allow a few 


43 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


men to control the finances of our country and own 
all the leading industries. 

Every fair-minded person will admit that it is all 
right, and perfectly proper, to fight the real trusts. 
But if the Republican party had done its duty, such 
things as it is now doing would have been unnecessary 
The whole country would have been one hundred per 
cent better off. But why should business associations 
be persecuted when most, if not all of them, have for 
their object the protection of their members from* 
just as unscrupulous a class of business sharks as com¬ 
pose the directorate of the trusts? 

If business men have not the right to organize 
for self preservation, then what rights have they? 

No, the thing has gone too far and as a result 
the retail merchants of this country have formed a 
Federation for the simple purpose of protecting them¬ 
selves against persecution, and defending themselves 
against the “powers that be,” who would destroy them. 

Things have come to a pretty pass in this country 
when its law abiding citizens have to band themselves 
together to prevent their own government from de¬ 
stroying them. They, like a good many other humble 
citizens in this country, have made the grave mistake 
of remaining at home and allowing politicians to make 
what laws they pleased, regardless of whether such 
laws were good or bad; but these conditions will not 
prevail in the future, for the business m*en of this 
country are going to have something to say about leg¬ 
islation and to see to it that they are not legislated 
out of existence. 


44 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


Business men have learned a lesson from labor 
organizations. They too, were oppressed on all sides, 
until they became well organized, and while they have 
not won in every case, they have come out victorious 
a number of times. They have been instrumental in 
having laws enacted that would give them better pro¬ 
tection and more consideration from the big corpor¬ 
ations. Why does not the Government go after the 
labor organizations? Their objects are practically the 
same as those of the business organizations. 

Simply because they have became too strong for it. 
The government is afraid of them, just the same as it 
is alarmed over the rapid growth of socialism. It is 
largely the labor element that is back of socialism and 
it is only a question of time until Socialists will come in¬ 
to their own. “The powers that be” cannot check social¬ 
ism any more than they can stop the sun from rising 
at a certain time every morning. 

Yes, Mr. Bellamy, it is coming faster than you an¬ 
ticipated, and it is a great pity you could not have 
lived to see your dream come true, but perhaps you 
can look down on us from above and join with other 
angels in their hallelujahs. 

If our readers would like to broaden their visions 
fifty per cent, they should read “Why I Am a Socialist 
by that eminent writer and noted New York journalist, 
Mr. Charles Edward Russell. And after you have read 
Mr. Russell's famous book, and you desire to add an¬ 
other fifty per cent of real wisdom to your present 
store, then read “Christianity and the Social Crisis,” 
by Rev. Walter Rauschenbusch. These books are two 


45 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


of the masterpieces of twentieth-century literature. 

Mr. Russell’s book is complimented by such well- 
known newspapers as the New York Times and the 
Chicago Record Herald. 

That famous writer, Mr. Jack London, says “In this 
book I find economics that read like human-interest 
stories . . .or, rather, human-interest stories, fat 

with facts of life and packed with the livest of eco¬ 
nomics. 

“My congratulations to Mr. Russell. If I were a 
millionaire I would place a copy of this book in every 
family of the United States . . . Aye, and if I had 
any money left after doing this, I’d go on distributing 
the book over the rest of the civilized world. Again 
my congratulations to Mr. Russell, and to you (George 
H. Doran Company) for having brought out such a 
work.” 

More power to you, Mr. London—we truly wish 
you had the millions and could use them in this man¬ 
ner. And more power to you, Mr. Russell, and also 
to you, Mr. Rauschenbusch; would to God there were 
ten thousand more in your class, so that they could 
literally cover this old sin-sick, man-oppressed, woman- 
depraved, child-enslaved, millionaire-pauperized and 
politically-corrupted world with such gems as you 
have given us. 

If we had the money we would build another 
Statue of Liberty—a true symbol—and place it on the 
highest mountain peak that could be scaled, and we 
would—if we could—place in the hand of the Goddess 
an electric search-light that would send its rays 
throughout the world, and around its base we would 


46 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


inscribe the names of such persons as Lincoln, Stowe, 
Dow, Bellamy, Willard, Lloyd-George, Swallow, Stod¬ 
dard, Jones, Matthews, Russell, Rauschenbusch, 
London, Arundel and Prosser, and we are not certain 
that among others we would add that we would omit 
the name “Nation,” for did she not try to destroy in 
her unique way the worse enemy civilization has ever 
■ known? and against which those in high authority 
have refused to raise even their little fingers. 

Such personages as we have mentioned will be 
recorded in future histories, when the old order of 
things has passed into oblivion, as the real heroes 
of the present age, for while they did not have millions 
with which to build magnificent stone and marble libra¬ 
ries, with frame work of steel, made in mills where 
poor workmen sacrificed their lives by the hundreds 
that their millionaire owners might augment their al¬ 
ready swollen, filthy millions, it would be recorded that 
they gave, like the poor widow, the very best there was 
in them that oppressed humanity might be lifted out 
of the mire and slough of despond and placed upon 
Freedom's brightest and happiest road, where God 
intended they should be. 

Yes, let us repeat—more power to all you grand 
men and women, who are devoting your lives to such 
humane, magnificent and glorious work which has such 
a grand end, and may the great God of Heaven bless 
you and the Savior of men smile upon you, as you con¬ 
tinue in this grand cause. 


47 









4 


Fallacies of Our National Government. 


CHAPTER IX. 

YELLOW JOURNALISM. 

Many years ago there was published in New York 
City a weekly sheet, called the Police Gazette, which 
illustrated every murder it could learn of and published 
other blood curdling tragedies in that great city, but 
the postal authorities finally prevented its publishers 
from sending it thru the mails. 

New York has, since then, had another notorious 
paper, called “Town Topics.” Some of my readers, no 
doubt, have heard of it, and how certain rich people 
were blackmailed because they would not pay the ed¬ 
itor a good sum of money to keep him from publishing 
certain scandals about their families, some of which, 
no doubt, were “faked” up, and elaborated upon, to 
suit the occasion. The editor finally got into court and 
had considerable trouble. 

While not another city that the writer knows of, 
has a town topics sheet, (and they can congratulate 
themselves that they have not) nearly every city in the 
country of any importance, has its “yellow” journals 
and sometimes three or four of them. 

These “yellow” journals do not exactly “hold you 
up,” as did “Town Topics,” but if you are not to their 
liking, and they have an opportunity, they will make 
it warm for you. If there is an agitation of some 
kind on and they think it is popular to take a partic¬ 
ular side, no matter whether that particular side is 
right or not, they will take it, and make it unpleasant 
for the fellows on the other side, regardless of whether 


49 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


they stand high in the community, or not. They will 
go after a preacher the same as a politician, for they 
all look alike to them. Of course there are exceptions, 
and they occur when the party is a big advertiser or 
has considerable influence. 

Ever since the government started the agitation 
about a lumber trust (about five years ago) the news¬ 
papers of the country have been full of it, and it mat¬ 
tered not to them whether it was true or false, they 
went ahead with their publications about the '‘Big 
Lumber Trust.” 

If the lumber dealers were large advertisers, like 
the department stores, there would have been very 
little said about a “trust,” but as they are not, (for sev¬ 
eral good reasons) the lumber merchants received no 
mercy from the “yellow” journalists. 

Newspapers print about the high price of lumber 
—well, it would be still higher if the dealer should at¬ 
tempt city newspaper advertising, and this is the prin¬ 
cipal reason for not advertising. Of course, if one 
did it, and got the trade of some of the other dealers, 
then they would have to do it in self defense, and who 
would be paying the bills? Why the consumers of 
course. 

The government agitation against the lumber as¬ 
sociations would not have injured business very much 
if the thing had not been so extensively advertised by 
the newspapers. People all over the country have been 
made to believe that there is a “Gigantic Trust,” and 
every time they purchased a piece of lumber they were 
being unmercifully robbed, when there was not, and 
is not, an iota of truth in any of the Government’s 


50 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


charges or the newspaper assertions. Talk about oper¬ 
ating in restraint of trade, the “yellow” journals of this 
country have done more to restrain trade in the last 
four years than all the “real trusts” combined. If the 
U. S. government really desires to do the general 
public a genuine service, let it put a, ban on this class 
of sheets. They are the purveyors of falsehoods and 
creators of hard times. 

The business men of this country should wake up 
to the fact that these “yellow” sheets are doing them* 
and the whole country harm* and band themselves to¬ 
gether in a league to suppress publication of such jour¬ 
nals. The Yellow Journals talk about graft and graft¬ 
ers. There is not a bigger bunch of grafters in this 
country than the editors of yellow journals. 

To recall a case that happened not long ago : 
The son of a big business man, who does considerable 
advertising in different newspapers, got into a bad 
mixup, not necessary to relate here, as it is unfit for 
publication, and do you think a single newspaper in the 
city would publish it? No, not one, and this in the 
face of the assertion by one of them that they do not 
“play favorites” and will publish facts, no matter who 
it hurts. Well, “it depends upon whose ox is being 
gored.” In this particular case it would have been 
their ox, as they had good reason to believe that this 
particular merchant would withdraw his patronage. 
The amusing part of it is that a small publication, 
with a name that indicates a “square deal,” came out 
with the news with big headlines, and maybe it did 
not score this “boasted sheet” that refused to tell what 
it knew. 


51 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


This recalls other news items that appear in dif¬ 
ferent city papers at various times. They say that 
“a certain party has gone to the seashore or has taken 
a European trip” when the party in question has been 
“accidently seen” at night on the third floor. 

Money and influence go a long way in this world, 
and money will travel about as many miles with the 
editor of a yellow journal, as it will with the bell boys 
of some cheap hotels. 

Well, why doesn’t the government take a hand? 
Because it considers these fellows and their sheets 
valuable assets, the same as they do som^e of their 
other pets that you will read about on other pages. 

It was yellow journalism that incited the 
would-be assassin of Colonel Koosevelt. 


53 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


CHAPTER X. 

A DON QUIXOTE WARFARE 

The story starts at the head-quarters of General 
Searchem, Washington D. C. 

“John, have you heard the latest news? No, “cap,” 
what is it? Well you and the other boys are to leave 
to-morrow and round up those fellows in the lumber 
camp, out on the Pacific Coast.” “Out on the Pacific 
Coast did you say , “Cap?” Yes, that is what I said, 
and you had better get everything ready so you can 
start early. What train do we take “cap?” The 7:05 
on the P.” 

What are we to do on arrival “Cap ?” “You are to 
find out all you can about the lumber trust. We have 
word from Lieutenant Wiseacre that the lumber deal¬ 
ers out there are exposing some of the big houses in 
the city of C.” “What do you mean by ex¬ 

posing them “Cap ?” “Why, they are telling their cus¬ 
tomers of their methods of doing business, and those 

fellows in C. are complaining about their 

trade being injured. You will get the details on arrival 
at T.” 

“ The boys were up bright and early next 
morning and after having breakfast at the Union 
restaurant they boarded a car and started for the de¬ 
pot. The street car was held up by a broken down 
wagon and they had only a few minutes to purchase 
their tickets. The train pulled out just as the last 
man stepped aboard. After several days of weary tra¬ 
vel, they reached the city of T. and went 


53 








Fallacies of Our National Government. 


to the office of Lieutenant Wiseacre. They related 
a few incidents of their trip across the country and 
told how Harr^ got struck on a Miss Johnston, who 
was on her way to the coast to visit an aunt. Then 
they got down to business. 

The Lieutenant opened the conversation by 
saying he thought they would have a pretty “good” 
case. He related how a farmer had bought a 
lot of building material from a certain big house in 

C.and not being satisfied with it made conv- 

plaint to the house and they replied that they had 
sent him just what “their catalogue specified” and he 
would “have to make the best of it,” as it was too far 
away to ship it back. The farmer happened to know 

Mr. W.who runs a lumber yard here and 

he called at his office to talk the matter over and 

told Mr. W. that he thought he had been 

cheated and wanted to know if he would not get in his 
buggy and ride over to his farm and take a look at 

what he had bought. Mr. W.said although 

he was pretty busy he would take time to go over, so 
they drove over in about an hour and the farmer went 
in the house and brought out the catalogue so that Mr. 

W.could see the grades he specified. It 

did not take Mr. W. very long to see 

that his friend, the farmer, had been cheated, and he 
said “Uncle Bill, why didn’t you come to me to buy 
your lumber? I could have supplied you with every¬ 
thing you have here.” 

“Well, Charlie, I’ll just tell you how it happened. 
Me and Sarah have been planning for some time to 
build two more rooms to our house and we saw the ad- 


54 









Fallacies of Our National Government. 


vertisement of a big catalogue house in the city of 

C.and the advertisement stated that they 

would send one of their big catalogues to any one, 
free, if they would just send their name and address 
on a post card, so I spoke to Sarah about it and she 
thot it would be a good “idee” to send “fer” one and 
so we did. Now when we got the catalogue we found 
that it had everything in it we needed and the catalogue 
stated that the company could save us at least 25 
per cent. Well, as we had just so much money to go 
on, we thought it was so much better than we could do 
at home, we had better order it, so we got Mr. Jones, at 
the bank, to fix up a draft for us and we mailed 
it with the letter of particulars in an envelope 
that came with the catalogue, and the car arrived last 
Wednesday and I hauled it out to-day. I forgot to tell 
you, Charlie, that we had not figured on paying freight 
and I had to borrow money at the bank to pay the 
freight which was $150.00.” “How much did you send 
them for what you have here, Uncle Bill? Why, I 
sent them $300.00.” “Three hundred dollars did you 
say Uucle Bill ?” “That's what I said.” “And you paid 
$150.00 freight, well, Uncle Bill, they surely have al¬ 
most skinned you alive. Now I want you to go back to 
my yard and let m*e show you what I would have given 

you for the money you sent to C.and you would 

have had no freight to pay and you could have taken 
your own time to pay for the lumber. So they rode 

back to Mr. W.'s lumber yard and when Uncle 

Bill was shown the same grades mentioned in the 
company's catalogue and noticed how much better they 
were than what he had received he said.” “Well, 


55 






Fallacies of Our National Government. 


Charlie, I think they did skin me, sure enough!” “Yes 
Uucle Bill, they handed you a gold brick and you will 
have to make the best of it.” 

It was a pitiful sight to see the old man so crest¬ 
fallen, and as he drove away, with his head hang¬ 
ing over his chest, he would have made even a hard¬ 
hearted man feel sorry for him. 

Now boys, no doubt you feel sorry, as do I, for 
the old man, to think he had been fooled or cheated 

in this way, but Mr. W.. who belongs to 

the lumberman’s association out here, told some of 
the other members of the association, and the news 
of how Uncle Bill got skinned finally got into one of 
their trade papers, and was copied by a farmers jour¬ 
nal. The company in C. is raising a big 

fuss about it and says that these association fellows 
are injuring their business and, according to the 
Sherman Antitrust law, they are operating in “restraint 
of trade?” You know, boys, that our department has 
to have business, to keep it going, and unless we stir 
it up, our jobs will not last, so we had better make this 
thing out as strong as possible if we expect to “feather 
our nests.” So the report was sent in, after a few 
days’ investigation, to General Searchem’s head¬ 
quarters. 

In about a week after that they got orders to re¬ 
port to Lieutenant Getbusy at M.in the state 

of P. 

The case assigned them at this place was that of 
a mill man who had sent to the same house in the 

city of C. for what the catalogue specified 

as a solid gold watch. He had paid a pretty fair price 


56 








Fallacies of Our National Government. 


for it and he naturally expected it to last him a life¬ 
time. But he had had it only three years when it be¬ 
gan to show brass. The mill man took it to a good re¬ 
liable jeweler and he just glanced at it and said it was 
nothing but the cheapest kind of brass, dipped in gold. 
Well, maybe you think the fellow did not howl about 
it, and wondered why the U. S. government allowed 
such concerns to exist to defraud the public. The 
jeweler told him that he would have sold him a watch 
that he would guarantee for 25 years for 
what he had paid for his “turnip.” This particular 
jeweler told about this poor fellow being cheated, when 
he gathered up his associates at a little party they 
had. An editor of their town paper happened to be 
a guest at the dinner and he thought that the story 
would make pretty good reading matter for his paper 
and at the same time be a warning to the public. The 
advertising man of the big house in C.hap¬ 

pened to see a copy of this particular paper and they 
sent in another complaint about their business being 
interfered with. They said, in the first place, the jew¬ 
eler had no business to “interfere” with their business, 
for if people were fools enough to send their money 
on for something they had not seen and “got stung,” 
it was their own lookout, and for anyone to interfere 
was against the law. The laws of the country pro¬ 
tected them and they paid a license to do business. 
So the governments agents made note of the case. 

We next find these agents of Uncle Sam in the 

city of B. in the same state. This time it 

is another farmer. He goes to a hard-ware store 


57 





Fallacies of Our National Government. 


to price an axe. The dealer shows him different makes 
as well as different weights. He remarked that he 
was partial to a heavy axe as he had a pretty strong 
arm and the weight of the axe had a great deal to 
do with the headway he could make. The heavier the 
axe the deeper it would go into the wood at each stroke. 
After looking over the stock, he finally found one to 
suit him, and asked how much it was, and the dealer 
replied “$1.10.” The farmer being a close buyer, said 

he could buy the same axe in the city of C., 

from a big catalogue house for 90 cents, and kept 
“hemming and hawing” about it until the hardware 
merchant told him that he had better buy it there 
as the price named was the best he could do. The 
farmer went to the post office and got a money order 
for 90 cents, paid 5 cents for the order and 2 
cents postage, and forwarded with his order for the axe. 
About four days later the express agent notified him 
that he had a package for him. He called at the office 
of the express company and presented his post card 
notice. The axe was brought out and laid on the 
counter and the clerk said that there was thirty-five 
cents charges. The farmer kicked, but as he was out 
his 97 cents, all he could do was to pay the charges. 

A few days after this the hardware dealer met 
him on the street and asked him if he had received 
his axe, and he said “yes.” “Well, what did it cost you ?” 
The farmer hesitated, for he did not want to lie about 
it, so he said, “I am out 22 cents.” “How is that?” 
“Well, the expressage was 35 cents.” “The hard¬ 
ware dealer laughed and so did the farmer, and as they 


58 




Fallacies of Our National Government. 


parted the farmer said “you. don't catch me trying 
it over again." 

“The hardware dealer was a member of an as¬ 
sociation and he thought the story was too good to 
keep. So he wrote the secretary of his state associa¬ 
tion about it. The secretary in turn made a mimeo¬ 
graph copy of the letter and mailed it to all the mem¬ 
bers. Some of them, who advertise in their town and 
county papers, gave it to the editors as a news item, to 
show the advantages of buying from your home mer¬ 
chants instead of going on a wild goose chase after some 
thing you do not know anything about, and the long¬ 
headed and sharp eyed advertising man of the big 
“house," in the “big city," got wind of it, as he did 
in the other cases, and reported it to the headquarters 
of “General Searchem" and his boys were sent out 
on another investigating trip. 

At this point the agents got orders to report at 

E. C.in the same state, where they 

found a lumber dealer exhibiting some porch columns 
that he had bought from this same company for a 
nice residence that he had a contract to furnish the 
lumber for. When he examined them he found them 
to be made of a mixture of saw dust, putty and cheap 
lumber, when he had bought them for first class col¬ 
umns. He knew that if he allowed them to be used 
on any house it would ruin his trade, so he decided 
to put them on exhibition in his office, that people 
who came in with a story of how much better they 
could do away from home, might see some of the 
“beauty" as well as the disadvantage of buying goods 
“sight unseen." 


59 






Fallacies of Our National Government. 


This exhibit served its purpose for different per¬ 
sons who saw it said it was “enough” for them. 

Sven the government’s agents had to laugh when 
they saw the columns, but they had to perform their 
duty by making note of it, and again the big house 
in the big city complained about their goods being 
exposed to public view. This tim*e it was the presi¬ 
dent of the company, who is well known on Wall street, 
that made the complaint. 

The next time we hear of the government’s agents 
they are out on a farm, looking at a lot of “stuff” 
that has been consigned to the junk pile. This partic¬ 
ular farmer had a mania for ordering stuff from the 

Big house in the city of C.such as stoves, 

patent churns, etc., and in a short while they are 
discarded. 

A friend of his “put him wise” one day, by telling 
him he could do a great deal better at Mr. Jones hard¬ 
ware store, in the town of H.. which was near 

his farm. When he compared prices and estimated 
the freight and the convenience of credit, to say noth¬ 
ing of the superior quality of the articles in question, 
he at once saw that he had been a gold brick victim. 
He got so hot under the collar about it that he made 
up his mind that he would expose the particular house 
that had deceived him, by giving his experience at 
a big county grange meeting, which he did. The 
farmers for miles around who had received the big 
catalogues” of this “Big House” had a “big” Fourth 
of July celebration by setting fire to them. The “Big 
House” wondered why the orders from that section of 
the state of .ceased so suddenly, to come 


60 






Fallacies of Our National Government. 


in and they wrote a letter to the rural mail carrier 
one day, and asked him if he knew what was wrong. 
The mail man had been informed by different farmers 
of what had happened, so he gave them the facts— 
hence the government's agents on the spot, to size up 
the situation. 

At this juncture the government agents were or¬ 
dered back to headquarters, where they arrived safely 
after their varied experiences with the merchants and 
farmers. 

After the General had carefully looked over the 
notes of his agents, he said, “well boys, you have 
done prety well, and we will send the evidence down 

to the city of C.. which is the western branch 

of this department, and they can bring the matter be¬ 
fore the Federal Grand Jury, with instructions to go 
after the lumber associations first, and if we succeed 
in making out a case against them* it will be easy 
sailing when we get around to those hardware and 
jewelry fellows. But as far as that evidence you took 
against the farmer and the farmer's grange is con¬ 
cerned, we will have to “pass it up” as we dare not do 
anything against the farmers, for they are “privil¬ 
eged characters.” 


01 


















































































































Fallacies of Our National Government. 


CHAPTER XI. 

U. S. GOVERNMENT’S PETS. 

Boys and girls have pets and men and women 
have pets. 

Boys have ponies, dogs, rabbits and squirrels. 
Girls have cats, white mice, goldfish, etc. Men have 
women, dogs and automobiles. Women have men, 
poodles, etc., but no mice, thank you! But who ever 
heard of a government having pets ? Why, of course, 
governments have pets—in the national parks, but the 
writer does not refer to such pets. 

We have referred to the various Trusts the gov¬ 
ernment is “going after,” and told of sorn^e of the 
mean things they resort to, in order to gain certain 
ends. 

We can take all the Trusts spoken of, estimate the 
damage they have done to their competitors and the 
public generally since organization, and it will be 
very insignificant compared with the damage done the 
people of this country by the brewers and distillers 
of the United States, in one year. Here is the glaring 
inconsistency of our government, and this is a question 
it always has dodged. President Taft said that the 
trusts could take their choice of obeying the law or 
put up with state socialism, but not a word about this 
monster that is sending one hundred thousand men 
to drunkards’ graves every year—this reptile that is 
furnishing three-fourths of the inmates of our jails, 
penitentiaries and aslyums—and at whose expense? 
Did you ever stop to think, my dear reader, (if you 


63 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


are a property owner, (how much more your state 
and county taxes are as a result of having to support 
these things? Did you ever think of the misery this 
business causes, not only to the poor weak men, (who 
cannot refrain from indulging,) but the poor wives 
and children, who necessarily have to suffer as a re¬ 
sult of it ? How a good m,any of them are forced to live 
in hovels that could live in respectable homes, such as 
yours, if their husbands would only let drink alone? 
Think of the hunger its victims suffer and scanty 
clothing they are compelled to wear, of the anguish 
of poor wives, when their husbands are brought home 
on stretchers, as a result of having been hit by a street 
car or run over by a wagon, because too intoxicated to 
get out of the way. Think of the poor fellows dying 
without a cent of money in the house with which to 
bury them and all this after distressing consequences. 

Both the Republican and Democratic parties have 
upheld the liquor business for years and the only ex¬ 
cuse offered is that the government needs the money to 
help support it? To acknowledge that this govern¬ 
ment cannot live without money received from this 
damnable traffic in men's bodies and souls is to admit 
that we are no better than those ancient cities, Sodom 
and Gomorrah, which God destroyed because of their 
wickedness. Not only this, it is a direct insult to God 
to insinuate that He has founded a new nation and es¬ 
tablished a people (in this or any other country) which 
He is not willing and able to take care of at all tinges, 
and to the utmost, without accepting tribute from the 
devil or anything that pertains to the devil, and if the 
liquor business is not the devil's most valuable asset, 


64 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


the writer would like to know to whom it belongs ? Can 
any reasonable person claim that the President of this 
country has the well-fare of his people at heart, when 
he completely ignores the facts that are continually 
placed before him in regard to the destruction of men’s 
bodies and the damnation of their souls? How can 
the leaders of the Republican party claim kin with 
a man like Abraham Lincoln, who could not bear to 
see the poor colored people of the South held in bond¬ 
age, when the Republican party is upholding a curse 
that is ten or twenty times worse, and not only affects 
the colored man, but to a much greater degree the 
white man, from coast to coast? And what kind of 
a God do the leaders of the Republican party think 
rules the universe that He will permit it to go hand in 
hand with these murderers and have inscribed on our 
money “In God we Trust” ? Is a government or nation 
trusting in God that sanctions a thing that has de¬ 
stroyed more men than all our wars combined? The 
brewers and distillers of the United States are not 
only pets of the two old political parties, Republican 
and Democratic alike, but they are in as close a com¬ 
pact as the oil magnates, beef barons, sugar thieves 
and tobacco monopolists ever dared be. And which 
is the worst ? Talk about inconsistency and hypocrisy 
—this is the most glaring form of it. 

To further show the great friendship of the Repub¬ 
lican party leaders for the Masters in this despicable 
business, we call to our readers’ attention the telegrams 
of congratulation sent a certain millionaire brewer, 
on the occasion of his fiftieth wedding anniversary, 
by both President Taft and Ex-President Roosevelt. 


G5 




Fallacies of Our National Government. 


And not only this, but they both sent presents. Did 
you ever hear of them sending a great preacher, tem¬ 
perance advocate or reform worker congratulations 
on the good work they were doing ? 

Suppose an epidemic of smallpox, yellow fever or 
some other plague should break out in this country, 
that would carry just one-half of the people to the 
other world that the liquor business sends there each 
year, what do you suppose the U. S. .government would 
do to stamp it out? Why, it would spend millions to 
blot it out. Why does the government make this dis¬ 
tinction ? The disease would come of its own accord or 
as a result of poor sanitary conditions, but the liquor 
element pays for the privilege of murdering 100,000 
men every year and creating not less than 50,000 
widows and over 150,000 orphans. 

And who takes care of those left behind in desti¬ 
tute circumstances ? Does the U. S. government donate 
and of the millions derived from the revenue on this 
cursed traffic to help support them ? If it did, it would 
be the meanest kind of inconsistency and the fact that 
it does not shows how much unconcerned it is about its 
poor, miserable subjects. 

Our high officials can talk about the horror of 
train wrecks, where a dozen or more are killed— 
mjne explosions, where probably several hundred are 
entombed—the starving thousands in India and China, 
but their eyes are closed to the horrors they are al¬ 
lowing others to create because, as wd said, the liquor 
interests are paying for such privileges. The eyes of 
our government officials are blinded by the gold they 


66 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


are receiving. Hypocrites and vipers—this is what 
the Nazarene called such people and they insult the 
Almighty God, on top of it all, by having inscribed on 
our money “In God We Trust.” The Republican party 
claims to be the friend of the colored man and its lead¬ 
ers and organs have time and again criticized the 
Southern people for the way in which they treat the 
colored people. But different things have happened 
since the civil war to prove that the very best friends 
the colored people have are the real true Southerners, 
For example, let us take some of the Southern states 
that have enacted laws to prohibit the sale of liquor. 
One of the things that actuated Southern legislators 
was the heinous crimes committed by colored men up¬ 
on the wives and daughters of white men, which shows 
what the Southerners’ ideas are as to the underlying 
causes of such crimes. In other words, Southern men 
have to fight, as states, what the two old national 
parties have created and uphold. The Republican 
leaders have apparently manifested a great regard for 
Booker Washington, who is to the colored race what 
George Washington was to the white race, but they 
are doing ten times as much against the colored race 
as it is possible for Mr. Washington to do for it. 

The Republican leaders also have a great deal to 
say about lynching in the South, but Pennsylvania, 
yes Grand Old Pennsylvania, that furnished so many 
men to help liberate the colored people, and gave Roose¬ 
velt a half million more votes than it did Bryan, had 
a burning. Yes, they actually burned a colored man 
while he was pleading for mercy. And why ? Because 
he had shot an officer who was trying to arrest him. 


67 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


The poor negro admitted he was under the influence 
of gin or he would not have committed the crime. 
And who made it possible for him to get the gin? 
Why, the National Government, of course. And who 
is the most directly responsible for it? The Pres¬ 
ident of the United States first—The Congress second 
and the Senate third. And why hold them respon¬ 
sible? First, for some of the good reasons already 
stated, but secondly because they are occupying pos¬ 
itions of trust and authority and, as stated, know of 
all the evils that come from the business and abso¬ 
lutely refuse to raise a finger, a hand or a voice against 
it. They are drunk with interest in the business and 
on the millions that come from the tax placed on it. 

Do you think, dear reader, for a single moment 
that if Abraham Lincoln were living he would stand 
idle, with folded arms and hushed breath and see 
this traffic in men’s bodies and souls carried on? 
Well, if the writer thought so, he would take down 
Lincoln’s picture from the walls of his residence — 
he would tear into a thousand pieces his mottoes, that 
he prizes so highly and he would also take down the 
certificate of his membership in the Lincoln Memorial 
in Kentucky, and confide it to the flames. He would 
try to forget that such a man as Lincoln ever lived 
and did the grand and noble deeds that made him 
the hero of every boy and girl and every true man and 
woman in our land. No, the writer can never be made 
to believe that Lincoln would stand for the murdering 
of 100,000 of his countrymen every year, for 100,000 
times the amount of money this government receives 
for such a ghastly privilege. 


68 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


To further prove some things we have said, we 
quote from the American Advance, of Chicago, that 
grand little paper that reaches into nearly every nook 
and corner of this country, and a part of whose bus¬ 
iness it is to expose the great friendly relations existing 
between the liquor element—“Grand Old Plotter” 
and The DONKEY party. The quotations speak for 
themselves: 

Liquor Dealers Eulogize Friendship of Federal 
Government. 

“IF A BREWER OCCUPIED THE PRESIDEN¬ 
TIAL CHAIR, and shared the counsel of nine fellows 
of his craft as the members of his cabinet, the liquor 
trade of America could scarcely revel in more friendly 
relations with the Federal Government than they now 
enjoy. 

“If any reader of these lines is the slightest bit 
skeptical in this regard, we invite his attention to the 
flowing words of eulogy which we quote below from 
some of the most distinguished officials of the liquor 
trade organizations. 

“The old-fashioned mutual admiration society 
never surpassed the reciprocal flattery indulged in 
by these spokesmen for the alcoholic plundering at 
their national convention, and their most distinguished 
guest, the official representative of the National gov¬ 
ernment, Hon. ROYAL E. CABELL. 

“The astonishing insult to every clean-minded, 
patriotic American in Commissioner CABELL’S as¬ 
sertion that “the wheels of our government could not GO 
without the money paid it by the liquor traffic,” which 





Fallacies of Our National Government. 


was received with a tumult of applause by his hearers, 
ought to prompt indignant rebuke from every corner 
of the land. 

“But his words merely epitomize the attitude of 
both the Republican and Democratic parties toward 
this legalized CURSE. 

“In all his remarks there is no admonition for the 
liquor-makers to whom he spoke, as to the potential 
PERILS which forever lurk within the wares which 
they produce. 

“No reference or illusion is made to the solemn 
pronouncements of the Supreme Court of the land, 
which warn the traffic of its GHASTLY CONSE¬ 
QUENCES. 

“And the words of the liquormakers themselves 
should awaken every lover of the home to the delib¬ 
erate concentration of the poison TRUST upon the 
control and domination of our politics. 

“Let these men speak for themselves. But as you 
love your home, your rights and liberties, as American 
citizens, spread this testimony before the eyes of 
every friend and acquaintance who is not yet aroused: 

“THE LIQUOR DEALERS’ NATIONAL COUN¬ 
CIL Dee-LIGHTED.” 

“The association may therefore look back upon 
a year which bears a ‘clean’ (?) record in its relations 
to the federal government. With the officials of the 
government charged with enforcement of the laws, 
the most cordial terms have existed.”—From address 
of LEVI COOK, General Council of the National Whole¬ 
sale Liquor Dealers’ Association. 


70 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


“FEDERAL OFFICIAL CABELL FLATTERS 
REPRESENTATIVES OF AMERICA’S LIQUOR 
TRUST. 

“I thank you, Mr. Chairman, and you, gentlemen 
of the Association, for your kind invitation for me to 
be with you today, thus affording me the opportunity 
of meeting personally so many leaders of this 'GREAT 
TRADE and INDUSTRY’ with which the Bureau of 
Internal Revenue has such ‘INTIMATE RELATIONS 
and in which the UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT 
is SO DEEPLY INTERESTED. During the fiscal year 
ending June 30, 1910, over $220,000,000 (were) paid 
through your trade and INDUSTRY (?) to the support 
of the National Government. (Applause.) 

I thank you on BEHALF of the GOVERNMENT 
for the broad-minded, patriotic manner in which you 
gentlemen have assisted the collection forces of the 
government in raising the money WITHOUT WHICH 
THE WHEELS OF THIS GOVERNMENT COULD 
NOT GO.”—From address of Hon. ROYAL E. 
CABELL, Commissioner of Internal Revenue. 

This same paper accuses CHAMP CLARK, speak¬ 
er of the House of Representatives, of being in con¬ 
spiracy with the National Liquor League to do every¬ 
thing possible to keep all temperance legislation in com¬ 
mittee, so that the House of Representatives will not 
be allowed to go on record before the people. The 
American Advance says it stands ready to prove up at 
any time Mr. Clark wishes to take the matter in hand. 

Is not this a most beautiful condition of our Nat¬ 
ional affairs ? If you are either a Republican or Demo¬ 
crat, don’t you feel proud of the fact? You ought to! 


71 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


Can any true American, with the blood of the 
patriots coursing through his veins, read the above 
quotations without experiencing a blush of shame? 
Shall we further disgrace the stars and stripes, which 
our forebears fought so nobly to establish, by wrapping 
them around the polluted bodies of these two man-made 
and MAN-CORRUPTED political parties? No! ‘‘let 
the DEAD bury their DEAD,” but let us , who are 
alive, unfurl the RED, WHITE and BLUE afresh, to 
the pure, undefiled, LIBERTY-LOVING breezes that 
our forefathers intended they should be wafted by. 


72 




Fallacies of Our National Government. 


CHAPTER XII. 

A BUSINESS MAN’S VIEW. 

Mr. J C. Thomas, a leading dry goods merchant 
of New York City, sends out the following invitation 
to ten prominent business men in different cities and 
states:— 

New York City, 1911. 

Dear Sir:— 

You are most cordially invited to meet me and 
ten other business men from different cities and states 
and representing the leading industries of our country, 
at the La Salle Hotel, Chicago, 10:00 A. M., for the 
purpose of discussing, from a strictly business view 
point, the effects of the liquor business upon our var¬ 
ious enterprises, with the hope of profiting by our 
different experiences. 

Please state on enclosed card whether or not you 
can and will attend, and greatly oblige, 

Yours very truly, 

J .C. Thomas. 

All of the ten business men responded favorably. 

The meeting was called and the gentlemen met on 
the date mentioned. 

We begin by introducing Mr. J. C. Thomas, a dry 
goods merchant of New York City. We next introduce 
Mr. Harvey Lewis, a manufacturer of Chicago; Mr. 
Edwin M. Hill, a shoe merchant of Cincinnati; Mr. J. 
C. Adams, a coal merchant of Milwaukee; Mr. J. P. 
Will, a lumber merchant of Louisville, Ky.; Mr. G. 
P. Texter, a hardware dealer of Philadelphia; Mr. 


73 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


E. M. Diebold, a planing mill man of St. Louis; Mr. 
W. E. Ahlers, a magazine publisher of New York City; 
Professor Bennett, superintendent of the public schools 
of Cleveland; Mr. J. C. Renshaw, a leading grocer of 
Buffalo, and Mr. Van Meter, a real estate dealer of De¬ 
troit. 

Here we have quite an array of business men in 
different vocations, and covering vast territory. 

By motion of Mr. Adams of Milwaukee, and sec¬ 
onded by Mr. Will of Louisville, Professor Bennett 
was chosen Chairman of the meeting. 

Professor Bennett opened the meeting by saying: 
‘‘Gentlemen I assure you I consider it quite an honor 
to be chosen to preside over a meeting of such intel¬ 
ligent business men as are here represented and for 
such an important discussion. You are well acquainted 
with the subject that has drawn us together and I 
hope that we all may profit by our gathering here in 
this magnificent hotel and in the second and most im¬ 
portant city of our country. The meeting is now open, 
gentlemen, for general discussion.” 

“Mr. Chairman and gentlemen,” (Mr. Thom,as of 
New York City), “I have always been a Republican, 
and like most Republicans, I have refused to have 
anything to do with any issue that was not“recom- 
mended by the party.” But as I have grown older, I 
hope I have, (as most men do) grown a little wiser, 
therefore I have taken a little broader view of life 
and consequently have gotten out of a few old ruts. 
As the notice for this meeting stated we are to dis¬ 
cuss the subject of Prohibition from a strictly business 
stand point, I will try to be on my good behavior and 


74 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


not break over the traces, (laughter). In my line 
of business, that of a dry goods merchant, in New 
York City, where we have people from all over the 
civilized world, I have had an excellent opportunity to 
study both peoples and conditions. When we first be¬ 
gan business and for ten years afterward, we did not 
require any clerks to abstain from the use of intox¬ 
icants and we had considerable trouble with them on 
account of drink. Some of our men were in the habit 
of visiting saloons at night where they drank liquor 
and played cards. We suspected it by their being 
late at different times in the morning and we put a 
watch on them. We also learned that some of our 
married men were spending a great deal of their money 
in dissipation and neglecting their families. Now, for 
fear the honorable Chairman of this meeting will call 
me down on what I have just remarked, as it may be 
termed the humane side of the question, I will state 
that from the fact that the saloons were getting a 
big share of our men’s wages and their families were 
short on needed clothing, and as the families of nearly 
all our employes dealt with us, we noticed quite a 
decrease in their purchases. Now, gentlemen, I do 
not desire to appear selfish in this view, but merely 
state it to bring out the business point. After chang¬ 
ing our rules, employing only temperate men and boys, 
we find that we have a class of employes who are 
more attentive to their duties and who take more in¬ 
terest in our business. We have gained a great many 
new customers, due to two causes—first, the employes 
associate with a better and mpre prosperous class 
of people and because of their good habits they have 


75 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


a number of friends who deal with us because of their 
friendship for our clerks; second, the customers in 
general admire our clerks because they are very polite 
and gentlemanly at all times, conditions that do not 
2 xist always everywhere. Considering prohibition from 
a strictly business stand point, I have come to the con¬ 
clusion that it would be a good thing for our country, 
and prohibition shall hereafter have my support.” 

“I thank you, gentlemen, for your kind attention.” 

“Mr. Chairman and fellow business men,” (Mr. 
Renshaw of Buffalo, gentlemen.) “It affords me great 
pleasure to meet with you gentlemen, coming as we do 
great distances and from various cities and states, 
and representing so many different kinds of business. 

“I have listened with great interest to the gentle¬ 
man from New York City, first, because he hails from 
the Eastern part of my own state. As I am in the 
grocery business, I can truthfully say that I believe 
that intemperance hits the grocer harder than almost 
any other class of merchants. We have had new fam¬ 
ilies move into the neighborhood who, at first, would 
come in and pay cash. They would continue this for 
awhile then ask for credit. I would extend them a 
small amount of credit, by the week, and after awhile 
the account would go two weeks without a settlement, 
and three weeks, and so on, when I would have to 
shut down on them. Upon investigation I found that 
a good many heads of the various families were drink¬ 
ing—in fact, they were spending the bulk of their 
earnings for booze. I dare say that we have lost a 
good many thousand dollars in this way since we 


76 




Fallacies of Our National Government. 


began business. In fact, the bulk of our losses are 
caused by this particular evil. 

“Now, what is true of me is true with the great 
majority of family grocers. It is not only what 
we grocers lose, but we have to add these losses to 
the price of our groceries to make up for it, and this is 
an injustice to the class of people who do not drink. 
A great deal has been said in the past five or six 
years about the high cost of living, and here is one 
of its principal contributors, that very few people, 
outside the grocery line, think about. 

“I thank you, gentlemen, for this opportunity of 
giving my experience in this matter and I hope to pro¬ 
fit by being here to-day and listening to what you 
gentlemen, in other lines of business, have to say. 

“Mr. Chairman and gentlemen,” (Mr. Will of 
Louisville, Ky., gentleman.) “I notice that I am the 
only one present from a city south of the Ohio river. 
I feel highly honored to meet you gentlemen, who 
have come here from the leading cities of our coun¬ 
try, and representing as you do, some of the prin¬ 
cipal lines of business. I am also proud of the fact 
that you have selected me to represent such a great 
industry as the lumber business—a business that has 
cut more of a figure in the upbuilding of our country 
than anything else. 

Now, as to the way the drink habit affects the 
lumber business I will begin with our employes. 
We have had all kinds of trouble in getting strictly 
sober teamsters. We have had them go out with big 
loads of lumber—sometimes several thousand feet— 


77 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


on a long haul of probably two or three hours. Along 
the route would be a number of saloons, and they 
would frequently stop at the first one if it was not 
too near our yard. They would repeat this several 
times enroute, and by the time they got to their des¬ 
tination they would be in such a state of intoxi¬ 
cation that they would throw the lumber down in the 
mud, if it happened to be muddy. They would also 
split a good many perfectly sound boards, by rough 
handling, and of course the contractors would complain 
and we would either have to make reductions or re¬ 
place the damaged lumber. Sometimes they would 
drive in front of a street car and in addition to having 
a wheel knocked off the wagon, the driver would be 
thrown to the ground and badly injured, and probably 
have to go to the hospital for several weeks, and on ac¬ 
count of the employer’s liability law, we would have 
to pay his hospital bill, or stand a law suit. 

Now, as to the customers side of the question. 

We sell hundreds of men, in ordinary occupations, 
lumber with which to build homes, and some make 
monthly payments. While we come out all right with 
most, we lose considerable by some getting into the 
drinking habit. As the desire for drink grows, their 
payments decrease and the time stretches out from one 
month to two and three, until they cease altogether, 
and the only recourse left us is to take over the house, 
which is not the most pleasant thing in the world to do 
and neither is it profitable. 

Now, so far as I am personally concerned, I can¬ 
not help but think that not only our business would 


78 




Fallacies of Our National Government. 


be benefited, if the liquor traffic should be extirpated 
from our country, but from what the two gentleman, 
who have preceded me, have had to say, I am thorough¬ 
ly convinced that it would help all kinds of business 
and if this is the sense of the meeting, when all the 
others have spoken, you can count on my support in any 
action you may take to suppress this evil. I thank 
you. 

Mr. Chairman and gentlemen:— (Mr. Lewis of 
Chicago, gentlemen) I assure you, gentlemen, that it 
is a great pleasure to be here to-day with so fine a re¬ 
presentative body of men and I will always look back 
upon this meeting as one of, if not the most note¬ 
worthy I have ever attended, inasmuch as it has to 
do with a problem that has caused m<ore or less con¬ 
cern in our beautiful country for a good many years. 

The question before us is one of great moment 
to the industry I represent, and what would affect me 
as a manufactuer would also affect others in the man¬ 
ufacturing line. I take it for granted that all of you 
gentlemen have been in factories of one kind or an¬ 
other, at different periods in your lives, and you know 
that besides the big steam and gas, as well as elec¬ 
trical engines, that are necessary to turn the hun¬ 
dreds of big and little wheels, we have thousands of 
feet of belting, all of which is more or less danger¬ 
ous. If there is an occupation in life that requires 
a level head and wit, it is that of an engine tender, 
whose duty it is to keep the machinery in good work¬ 
ing order. In fact, a manufacturing plant is no place 
for a man who imbibes intoxicating liquors. In spite 
of our strict rules in regard to temperate habits of 


79 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


our employes, a workman will occasionally get too 
much drink in him and as sure as he does we have an 
accident, sometimes slight and sometimes disasterous. 

We had quite a bright young man employed as as¬ 
sistant to one of our engineers. One day the young man 
got drunk, he was caught in the belt of the big fly wheel 
and was whirled around many times. Every time a 
part of his body struck the floor until he was hammer¬ 
ed almost into jelly, when, by some good turn of for¬ 
tune, he was thrown off to one side and lay there un¬ 
conscious for some time before he came to. He man¬ 
aged to drag himself to the engine room door where 
he attracted the attention of one of the workmen in 
the factory. He was taken home by some of our men 
with as m,uch care as possible to give any one and he 
laid there for months before he was able to walk. Well, 
it cost us considerable money and his parents no end 
of trouble, expense and anxiety. This is about the 
worst case we have had, but we have had a number 
of others, where the hands and feet were caught in 
the machinery and were cut off or had to be amputated 
on account of being badly crushed, and in every case, 
as Mr. Will of Louisville related about the drunken 
teamster, we have had to foot the bill to keep out of 
trouble, and it has been rather expensive. 

You need not wonder that altho I was born and 
reared a Republican, I have come to the conclusion 
that unless the Republican party takes immediate steps 
to rid our country of this traffic, which is injuring our 
business, by piling on m,ore expense and then making 
us liable for the damage it does to our employes, I 


80 




Fallacies of Our National Government. 


for one, will be forced, thru self defense, to vote the 
Prohibition ticket next November.” (Cheers). 

“I thank you, gentlemen, for both the opportunity 
of speaking and the close attention you have given me.” 

“Mr. Chairman and fellow merchants.” (Mr. Adams 
of Milwaukee, gentlemen). I do not know which of 
the three terms you might apply to me, on account of 
the nature of my business. Some call me the “Cold 
Man” because I deal in coal. Others refer to me as the 
“Hot Man” because the commodity that I handle makes 
people warn*, while others refer to me as the “Black 
Man,” because coal is so dirty. You can take your 
choice on terms. 

Getting down to the subject in question I, like the 
other gentlemen who have spoken, am affected by 
the liquor traffic, and in different ways. As you are 
well aware, the coal business requires a good many 
teamsters, that is, if an individual or company is carry¬ 
ing on an extensive business, such as ours. I feel 
safe in saying that there is no class of teamsters out¬ 
side of those who man the wagons of brewers and dis¬ 
tillers, who drink as much as the coal wagon or cart 
driver does. We have had men who love drink so well 
that they have actually spent the money collected for 
the coal, when returning to the yard. And we have 
had experiences similar to those related by Mr. Will, 
of Louisville. Our carts and wagons often have been 
run into by street cars and occasionally by trains as 
a result of a drunken driver’s inability to drive proper¬ 
ly. We also have had trouble with collectors and book¬ 
keepers who imbibed too much liquor. Our greatest 
losses, however, come from the people we extend credit 


81 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


to. The coal business, like nearly every other kind of 
business, has to run largely on a credit basis. On ac¬ 
count of a small load of coal not amounting to very 
much, we credit people in all walks of life, and we lose 
considerable money on account of our customers losing 
their positions thru excessive drinking. I have often 
thought that the whole country would be far better off 
if the business were banished from our land. There¬ 
fore I can express myself as being in full sympathy 
with what the other gentlemen have said and the con¬ 
clusions they have reached, and if it is the opinion 
of the majority that we would profit by its extinction 
I will gladly lend my most hearty support to help the 
same. I thank you, gentlemen. 

“Mr. Chairman and fellow business men of the 
metropolises of the United States”:—(Mr. Hill, of Cin¬ 
cinnati, gentlemen). “They say that if a horse is well 
shod, he can stand up on almost anything. I believe 
the same is true of man. I surely believe in men being 
well shod and this is why I am in the shoe business 
(laughter) and altho I have not inspected your shoes, 
perhaps I can do some business before I leave here 
(more laughter). They say there is nothing so ben¬ 
eficial as a good laugh,—it helps to digest one’s food 
and it cheers those around us. Now, that we have had 
the laugh, let us proceed to the business before us.” 

“As I have listened to the different gentlemen re¬ 
lating their experiences with those who use intoxicants, 
I have thot what a similarity there is in it all. Those 
who preceded me come from New York City, Buffalo, 
Louisville and Milwaukee, and we have a representa¬ 
tive from this great city where we meet. I was form- 


32 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


erly in the lumber business in another city and in a 
different state, but the business became so unprofit¬ 
able, I decided to make a change and, in making the 
change, I thought I would try a business that people 
were compelled to patronize, so I “struck on” the shoe 
business.” 

“As Abraham Lincoln once said, “the Almighty 
m,ust love common people as He made so many of 
them,” so in my business I have all kinds of cus¬ 
tomers, boys and girls, men and women, rich and poor, 
black and white, and I have lots of common ones, too— 
some of them are uncommonly common: (laughter) 
but I suppose the commonest of them all are those who 
spend their money for drink. My business is not only 
affected (or rather my bank account) by what I lose 
through customers beating m,e, but by the hundreds 
of thousands that are unable to buy shoes because they 
spend the bulk of their earnings for drink. It is not 
only the men's trade we lose, but also that of the 
women and children, and if I were permitted to speak 
of the humane side of the question, I could tell you 
some very pitiful stories—yes, heart-rending incidents. 

Some of my friends often told me, when I was 
in the lumber business, that I was too tender hearted, 
or I would not have lost so much money by people beat¬ 
ing their accounts. Well, if there are times that a man's 
heart is touched in the lumber business there surely 
are more times that it is appealed to in the shoe bus¬ 
iness. When a woman comes to you on a cold day, with 
several barefooted children, and begs you to give her a 
few weeks credit it would take a pretty hard hearted 
man to refuse, and this, gentlemen is a common occur- 


83 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


ence. Upon investigation that my collectors make, in 
destitute cases, and in cases where I lose most of the 
accounts, we have learned that the drink habit is back 
of it. The father is either drunk most of the time or 
he is dead and the poor wife is left to live out a mis¬ 
erable existence, and it is these poor, miserable people 
we merchants are called upon to help. To my mind 
gentlemen, this business should be stopped and I am 
willing to lend my support to bring it to a close 
(Cheers). I thank you, gentlemen, for the great in¬ 
terest you have taken in what I have said.” 

“Mr. Chairman and gentlemen” (Mr. Diebold, of 
St. Louis, gentlemen) “If I am to be likened to the bus¬ 
iness that I represent, at this important gathering, I 
may prove the noisiest one in attendance, for if there 
is one thing in this world that makes more noise than 
another, excepting a cannon, it is a planing mill 
(laughter). Of all the knotty problems (laughter) 
we have, there is none more serious to a man's bus¬ 
iness than drink, and as Mr. Hill stated, we are all 
affected by its evil effects upon those who work for 
us as well as those to whomj we sell. Mr. Lewis spoke 
of the men getting hurt in his factory on account of 
being under the influence of intoxicants and I dare say, 
yes I can truthfully and knowingly say that his ex¬ 
perience can almost be duplicated by every factory 
owner in this country. Mr. Lewis related the incident 
of the man being caught in the fly wheel belting and 
almost being hammered into jelly. Well, I have a dis¬ 
tressing story to tell about an engineer who had not 
been in my employ very long. One day the sawdust 
chute got clogged up and the fellow went to the bottom 


84 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


of it, in the sawdust room, which is made tight and 
fire proof, to try and get it opened up instead of going 
to the top of it, with a long pole, we had for that 
purpose and poking it down. A great amount of saw 
dust had accumulated and, when it started, it buried 
him so deep he could not get out and as he had closed 
the door behind him when he entered the room no one 
knew anything about it until he was dug out dead. 
Upon investigation we learned he had been drinking at 
a saloon near by which accounts for him going about 
the work in the manner he did. 

We had his body taken home and prepared for 
burial and had his remains put away in a respectable 
manner, and if this had been all the expense we had 
been put to, it would not have been so bad. But he 
left a wife and five small children without any means of 
support whatever and, as several others, who have had 
similar experiences, have related here today, rather 
than stand a lawsuit I called on his wife the day after 
the funeral and told her I would see that she and the 
children did not suffer for the necessaries of life, until 
the boys were big enough to help support her. This 
will cut quite a hole in my yearly profits and all brought 
about by a man getting drunk. 

We have had quite a number get cut by the saws 
and hurt by the belts and have their fingers caught 
in cogs, or be thrown off wagons by colliding with street 
cars, etc., a great deal of which could be traced direct¬ 
ly to drink. Not only have we lost in the way I have 
described, but we have lost considerable through 
drunken contractors, whom we have credited, and 


85 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


again, we have lost by selling material to drinking 
men to build homes with. 

Summing it all up, I can readily see where we 
would be at least two thousand dollars to the good, 
every year, if this booze business were “ cut out. ” 
Therefore, gentlemen, you can put me down as another 
good Republican who will desert the ranks in November 
unless action is taken by the Republican Party in the 
meantime. (Cheers). “I thank you gentlemen.” 

“Mr. Chairman and gentlemen from different cities 
of our great country”:—(Mr. Texter of Philadelphia, 
gentlemen). 

“In my home city they sometimes refer to me 
as a “hard man” because I am in the hardware business 
(laughter) and they call me “keen cutter” because 
I handle cutting tools—(laughter) while others say I 
am nothing more than an “old saw” (more laughter) 
because I sell saws, but I must confess that I never 
“saw” a finer lot of men than those who are gathered 
here today (cheers). I guess I have the “hardest” 
proposition of any of you gentlemen. Like some of 
the other gentleman, who have preceded me, have said, 
I sell “Tom, Dick and Harry,” on time, and a great 
many times Tom, Dick and Harry go astray, down 
at the “corner saloon,” and when they do Texter’s 
dollars go on a strike—(laughter) and sometimes my 
wife goes on a strike, too, when I can’t raise enough 
money for a new hat. (laughter) So you see, gentle¬ 
men, it is not only the drinking man’s wife and children 
and the judge—jury and jailer that he makes work 
for, but the business man’s wife and children have to 
suffer. Why, we could take a trip to Europe every 


86 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


year and have an elegant time on the money I lose by 
reason of my customers getting drunk. I had a col¬ 
lector that got to running with a saloon set and they 
led him into gambling and he got it into his head 
that he wanted to get rich quick and donated $2,000.00 
of my money to his companions. His mother and sister 
plead with me not to have him sent to the “pen” to 
associate with old criminals, so through sympathy for 
them*, I asked the judge to send him to a School of 
Reform. The Judge granted my request and sent him 
up for three years. He surely was sorry for his mis¬ 
conduct, for he made a model prisoner in the Reform 
School, and I got him out at the end of two years and 
he has made a faithful man and has returned a good 
part of the money he misappropriated. 

“Yes, gentlemen, as different speakers here have 
stated, this boozing business is a curse to the country, 
and we should rid ourselves of it. I have always been 
a Democrat, but the Democratic party is just as rotten 
as the Republican party, and I have come to the con¬ 
clusion that if we business men ever get rid of this 
“white elephant,” we all will have to turn our backs 
on the two old parties and vote the Prohibition ticket” 
(Cheers). 

“I thank you for your courteous attention.” 

“Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen”:—(Mr. Van Meter, 
of Detroit, gentlemen)— 

“It is surely a great pleasure to meet you gentlemen 
on such an important occasion, and I shall always 
cherish the few hours we have spent together in dis¬ 
cussing a question that is most vital to the American 
people today. When it comes to the evil effect of this 


87 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


traffic upon business, I have to acknowledge that our 
business, that of handling real estate, is not immune. 
It is like a universal epidemic of small-pox would be 
in this country—it affects everybody. It affects our 
business in different ways. Our clients lose consider¬ 
able rent on account of getting dissipated tenants in 
their houses. It is a common thing for our collectors 
to come in with long, pitiful stories from the wives of 
drinking tenants. Son^e times they tell of the hus¬ 
band and father having slipped on the ice and snow, 
and of having broken an arm, and not being able to 
work for months, of others who have lost positions, 
while occasionally a man would be killed. All this 
time rent will be going on and they will get further 
and further in arrears, until finally we will have to 
notify them to move. Judging from the great amount 
we lose in this way, as a direct result of drunkeness, 
the aggregate sum lost by real estate companies and 
agents and their clients throughout the country 
will run away up in the millions every year.” 

“We also lose a great deal by selling property 
on the monthly payment plan to m*en who appear to be 
all right at the time of sale, but who later either 
turn out to be imbibers or develop the drink habit, and 
you would be surprised at the number of recruits this 
business has. Of course if there were not new material 
constantly coming to the front to take the place of the 
hundreds of thousands that die or are killed or sent to 
jails—penitentiaries and m,ad houses every year, the 
business would soon die. As everybody has to have 
houses to live in and as we are in the business of 
furnishing people with homes, we naturally get the 


88 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


bad with the good. And this is not all, we have learned 
from observation that this class of people is very de¬ 
structive to property and the houses they live in re¬ 
quire more repairs and consequently this lessens the 
owners income. ,, 

“Yes, gentlemen, we are all injured by this traffic 
and we are of necessity compelled to do something to 
stop this great waste in our incomes. The longer the 
thing is allowed to continue the worse it will become 
and I shall henceforth lend my support to the move¬ 
ment that is on foot to overthrow it, before it over¬ 
throws us.” 

“I thank you for your kind attention”—cheers. 

“ Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of different enter¬ 
prises of our great country, (Mr. Ahlers of New York 
City, gentlemen) “I would, indeed, be ungrateful should 
I fail to express my great appreciation of being priv¬ 
ileged to address an assemblage of such intellectual 
and capable business men as I have the pleasure of 
looking upon at this moment (cheers) and I would also 
be considered a very narrow-minded man if I failed 
to see and weigh the importance of the great issue 
you have been discussing so intelligently. I must 
confess, as a man who has seen most of the world 
and met all kinds of people, that in all my travels and 
of all the men I have met, you, as a collected body, 
will compare most favorably. As I have listened to the 
different experiences of you gentlemen, representing, 
as you do, some of the leading industries of our 
country, and hailing from metropolitan cities of your 
various states, I have thought how hard it has been 
for these grand fellows to refrain from touching on 


89 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


the humane side of this great question. I could both 
see and appreciate the strain under which you have 
labored and this has thoroughly convinced me of the 
high type of manhood you represent. To be frank 
with you gentlemen, if this country had a few more 
thousand brave and sensible men like you, it would be 
not only in nam<e, but in reality “the home of the free 
and of the brave” (loud and continued cheers). 

They say “an honest confession is good for the 
soul,” so I will have to confess that I am one out of 
a very large number of men in this country who have 
never given this question any serious consideration 
and I am convinced that right in this fact is where 
most of the trouble with the American people lies today. 
They are asleep on the edge of a precipice and are all 
but rolling off.” 

“I had no idea that the liquor traffic was so detri¬ 
mental to all other branches of trade until I heard you 
gentlemen speak, and I can readily see the fallacy 
of the claim these people make that their business 
creates business. Instead of creating business it 
creates havoc throughout the country.” 

“You might wonder how it affects my business, 
as I wondered, before I heard you, how it affected your 
business. After I have related my story you will think 
it strange that you did not know more about the print¬ 
ing business and the life and character of the men 
who set up in type what you read in the daily papers 
and monthly magazines.” 

“If there be one class of men in our country who 
can get on the outside of more glasses of wine—schoon- 


90 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


ers of beer and drams of whiskey, in twenty four hours, 
than some of our printers, I have failed to find it. 
I have seen them come into the composing room so 
“full” they could hardly navigate and probably before 
we could prevail upon them to go home or to their 
rooms and sober up, they would “pi” a whole galley of 
type. At different times the issuing of our magazine 
has been delayed two or three days on account of sev¬ 
eral printers being off on a spree. Again, we have had 
valuable work spoiled by a partly intoxicated printer 
making a mistake in the composition and the foreman 
failing to notice it until the press boys had run off 
thousands of copies.” 

“This meeting has been a great educator to me 
and I am determined to put forth my very best efforts 
from now on to convey to the many thousands of 
subscribers to my magazine, the great handicap this 
traffic places upon all kinds of business. Another 
thought has come to me in regard to just what I lose as 
a publisher, and that is, if the millions of men who are 
spending their lives in debauchery, by reason of this 
business that our government gives license to, could 
have their intoxicating supplied shut off, and sober up 
and get down to business and earn what most of them 
would be capable of earning we would have many thou¬ 
sands more readers for our publication.” 

“Yes, gentlemen, I can see where it is a great 
monetary loss to me and all other legitimate publishers, 
and no doubt the articles I propose publishing in refer¬ 
ence to the matter, will tend to awaken my fellow pub¬ 
lishers so that they, too, will “get busy” and try to 
enlighten the public on this grave question—in re- 


91 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


gard to this vampire that is eating the very heart out 
of our country. By reason of the rules governing 
this meeting, I, like yourselves, have had to refrain 
from speaking of the humane side of the question, 
but neither my tongue nor pen will be tied once I am 
in the open air and I assure you that neither will my 
hand grow tired or my brain weary, as I shall make 
pen pictures, month after month, that I may be able to 
arouse my countrymen to a sense of duty.” (hearty 
and prolonged cheers) 

“Now, gentlemen, I have, no doubt, consumed more 
time than I should, but this is such a great subject, as 
well as a grave question, I could talk for hours about 
it. But I notice our honorable Chairman is getting 
very nervous and anxious to say something and antic¬ 
ipating the great treat he has in store for us, I will 
resign in his favor. I thank you most heartily for 
your excellent attention and good fellowship”—Great 
Applause. 

Gentlemen:—As I happen to occupy the chair, 
thru your courtesy, 1 will not be able to include the 
Chair, in my opening remarks—(laughter). I have 
been honored at different times in my profession of 
teaching, but I can say with all candor, I consider the 
position I occupy today, as Chairman over a meeting 
composed of such a magnificent set of men, the great¬ 
est honor that was ever bestowed upon me . I will have 
to join with Mr. Ahlers, who just closed his fine address, 
in saying, it has been the greatest treat of my life, 
to sit here and listen to such an oratorical display, as 
well as expressions of good common business sense and 
no end of logic. Mr. Ahlers said the meeting had been 


92 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


a great educator to him, and I dare say, each and every 
man here can truthfully say the same. When the 
varied experiences, as well as expressions of determ¬ 
ination, of such a fine lot of men get into public print, 
as Mr. Ahlers says they are going to do, I can hear, 
even now, the joyful music made by the tread of mil¬ 
lions of determined business men as they march to the 
polls next November, and cast their votes against this 
monster that has been stealing even the nursing bottles 
from the mouths of the poor babes” (cheers). 

“I was delayed on a street car, a short time ago, 
in the morning, and I, like a good many other men in 
the car, was in a hurry to reach my place of business. 
I asked the conductor what was wrong and he said 
a beer wagon had broken down on the track. I got 
off the car and walked the few remaining blocks, and as 
I walked, I thought, “yes there is a fair illustration of 
how that detestable business is holding up and hold¬ 
ing back progress in our land. Men, in various walks 
of life, were on that car and no matter what profession, 
business or vocation they were following, they were all 
held up in the same manner by the same thing.” And 
has not this been most convincingly proven here today? 
(In one voice—“You are perfectly right”). You gen¬ 
tlemen have told of the direct hindrance of this traffic 
to your particular business, but you did not mention 
the great loss to your various enterprises in trade that 
would naturally come to you if the millions of men 
who are now squandering a large portion of their sal¬ 
aries and incomes for intoxicants should use the same 
for useful and legitimate purposes. You cannot name 
a business that would not increase in volume, and 


93 



Fallacies of Out- National Government. 


the efficiency of your clerks, book-keepers, fac¬ 
tory hands, teamsters and others would improve won¬ 
derfully. And right here, gentlemen, I will make use 
of an idea that Mr. Ahlers gave me in his address, 
and that is, if the hundreds of thousands of men, 
who now spend their evenings in bar rooms, cafes and 
club rooms that have their private bars, would spend 
them at home with their families, and devote their 
time to the reading of good magazines and books, as 
a result, you would not only have a much higher grade 
of employes and more intelligent, but more trustworthy 
and far more valuable to you and to the country at 
large. No doubt som,e of them would advance ideas 
in regard to the conduct of your business that would 
prove very beneficial. You can readily see that we 
would have a much higher grade of employes in nearly 
all walks of life.” 

“As principal of the schools of my city, you no 
doubt wonder how this traffic would affect me and my 
work, when I have to deal with boys and girls, young 
men and women. Well, it affects the education of the 
young in different ways. I dare say we occupy posi¬ 
tions that enable us to see more of the evil effects of 
the drinking habit than do you gentlemen. In the 
first place, children of parents in every position in 
life come to us. The rich and poor, white and colored, 
and nearly all races of people therefore we get the 
children of the drunkards of the different nationalities. 
They come to us with ragged clothes, bare-feet, hungry 
mouths and shriveled stomachs. Do you think, gentle¬ 
men, that children thus constituted, can satisfactorily 
study? No, they would rather have a hard crust of 



Fallacies of Oat National Government. 


bread to gnaw on. And still, the parents of these 
children expect us to instruct them in knowlege. It 
is horrifying, to think that our government gives 
license to any one to carry on a business that is so 
detrimental to both the business and social life of our 
country. What kind of men and women do you sup¬ 
pose these boys and girls will grow into. Of course a 
great many of them will die before maturity, while 
others are tempted to steal, to satisfy their hunger 
and to clothe their half clad bodies. I honestly be¬ 
lieve that this one thing creates more criminals than 
anything else.” 

“Now, as to the larger boys and girls—say from 
fifteen up to twenty years of age—we notice the ill 
effects of nightly carousals, incapacitating them for 
study. What is the final result? Such children leave 
school with a very indifferent education,when, had it 
not been for such surrounding conditions, they might 
have been able to make of themselves fine men and 
women; citizens creditable alike to themselves and 
the nation.” 

“In my talk to you gentlemen, I propose to ex¬ 
plode an old fallacy that politicians have deceived the 
people with for a number of years, and that is, that our 
government cannot exist without the $335,000,000 re¬ 
ceived each year as tax on the liquor business. It 
will be necessary for me to use some figures that are 
authentic, and which have been kindly furnished me 
by the national Prohibition book store, of Chicago, 
which has carefully compiled them from government 
and other statistics. Here is how we spend our money 
yearly, namely;— 


95 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


Foreign Missions 

$ 10,000,000 

Brick 

100,000,000 

Churches 

175,000,000 

Potatoes 

210,000,000 

Silk Goods 

240,000,000 

Furniture 

245,000,000 

Sugar and Molasses 

310,000,000 

Public Education 

329,000,000 

Boots and Shoes 

450,000,000 

Flour 

455,000,000 

Woolen and Worsted Goods 475,000,000 

Cotton Goods 

675,000,000 

Lumber 

700,000,000 

Printing and Publishing 

750,000,000 

Tobacco 

825,000,000 

Iron and Steel 

1,035,000,000 

Meat 

1,550,000,000 

Intoxicating Liquors 

1,675,000,000 


Now, gentlemen, you will readily see, that for 
every dollar of revenue the U. S. Government gets out 
of the liquor business, it costs the people five dollars. 
To bring this matter down to a practical business basis, 
from which standpoint we should view it, suppose Mr. 
Hill, here, was running a big department store, and a 
traveling salesman, representing a large manufacturer 
of a certain article, should call, to induce him to handle 
this article, and would show him how he could make 
one hundred per cent, on it. Mr. Hill says to the sales¬ 
man, “that is a pretty good proposition, and you can 
book me for $10,000.00 worth.” Mr. Hill receives the 
goods O. K, and places them on sale and they prove 
very popular. Now, imagine, for some reason or other. 


9G 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


Mr. Hill should notice a falling off in all other branches 
of his business but this particular branch, and to such 
an extent that he was losing five dollars for every one 
dollar he was deriving from the sale of this article re¬ 
ferred to, and upon investigation should learn that it 
was all due to this particular thing,—how long, gentle¬ 
man, do you suppose Mr. Hill would continue to handle 
it? Answer in one voice:—“Not very long.” You have 
given the only sensible answer you could give, gentle¬ 
men, therefore, I am not at all surprised that you 
answered so promptly, and all saying the same thing.” 

“Now, for another direct business question. Who 
is the government ?” “It is supposed to be the people.” 
Why then do the people want to burden themselves 
by giving license to a thing that costs them five dollars 
for every one dollar they get out of it?” “We are un¬ 
able to explain.” Well, I think, gentlemen, that Mr. 
Ahlers answered this question when he said it was be¬ 
cause the people had never looked into the matter from 
a business standpoint.” 

“Just think that we spend over one tenth as much 
for intoxicating liquors as we spend for foreign mis¬ 
sions, brick, churches, potatoes, silk goods, furniture, 
sugar and molasses, public education, boots and shoes, 
flour, woolen and worsted goods, cotton goods, lumber, 
printing and publishing, tobacco, iron and steel, and 
meat.” 

“Now, for a few more examples—there is over 
twice as much spent for liquor as is spent for lumber. 
The lumber business is a great industry in our country. 
Think of the thousands of sawmills, planing mills, 
lumber yards, both wholesale and retail—the hundreds 


97 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


of thousands of men employed in the various branches 
of the business and then other hundreds of thousands 
who live, both directly and indirectly, out of the busi¬ 
ness. Take the millions of dollars paid in freight to 
the railroad companies,—the carpenters who build 
houses, the general contractors, architects, plasterers 
and others in the building line. For example, divert 
the one billion six hundred and thirty-live millions 
spent for liquor each year to the lumber business and 
what would happen in this country ? Why, gentlemen, 
we would have one of the greatest booms ever recorded 
in the history of the world, and would have something 
to show for it, such as new towns and cities, and all the 
old ones greatly increased in size and embellished in 
appearance. What would be the general result on other 
lines ? Merchants, in every legitimate line of business, 
would have all they could possibly attend to. Under 
present conditions what do we have? Well, as far as 
the result is concerned, it would be far better if they 
would take the billion and a half out on a boat to the 
middle of that great lake on which this city borders 
and dump it overboard, for then, it would do no harm. 
But to turn it into liquor and allow men to pour it 
down their throats means murder, suicide, jails, pen¬ 
itentiaries, mad houses, poverty, degradation, widows 
and orphans. Now, how long would you think it would 
take a sensible man to take his choice of the two prop¬ 
ositions? Not very long, Professor. Well then, why 
don’t the people in this country “wake up?” The only 
answer we can give is, that they must be pretty dumb, 
and if not dumb, indifferent—the more shame to 
them.” 


98 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


“We note that the printing and publishing busi¬ 
ness amounts to fifty millions of dollars more than 
the lumber industry, and still we spend, as a nation, 
over twice as much for liquor as we do for printing and 
publishing. If the printing and publishing interests 
could double their business, just think what it would 
mean to the country in different ways.” 

“Have you ever thought, gentlemen, how many 
young men are walking the streets of our various cities 
in idleness because they cannot find employment? 
Well, there are thousands of them. Divert the money 
spent for liquor into the various useful channels of 
business and instead of the young men hunting posi¬ 
tions the positions will be hunting the young men, as 
was the case when I was a young man. This is a 
thought for the young men of our country, and I only 
wish it were possible to m*eet every one of them and 
tell them so. Then, when they went to the polls to cast 
their first vote, it would be for a party that stood for 
the overthrow of the liquor traffic and for the very 
best interests of the young men of our land. This is 
also a question for the young ladies to think about— 
to urge their young men friends to vote for prohibi¬ 
tion. First, because thousands could then marry~who 
cannot take care of themselves at present, and, second, 
(m<y young lady friends), because they would remove 
the temptation and make better husbands and you 
would not have to dread the prospect of a drunken hus¬ 
band.” 

“Gentlemen, there is another important fact that 
I was about to overlook, and that is what the country 


99 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


boys and girls it takes to carry on the business. To 
increase all these various enterprises ten per cent, 
would m,ean that thousands of additional factories 
would be needed. Here is the use the distilleries and 
breweries could be put to and it would take thousands 
more than they have. As to the business houses that 
are used for saloons, you can very plainly see that 
they would not begin to supply the demand, for the 
increased supply of the additional factories and the 
greatly increased demand of the public for more goods. 
Now, as for those employed in the liquor business. 
The owners of the distilleries and breweries might 
well become prominent manufacturers of different 
useful commodities and the saloon keepers would open 
up various kinds of stores, right at their old stands, 
and the bartenders would not supply more than one- 
tenth of the help they would require to carry on their 
new business/' 

“As to the capacity of these men to engage in 
other pursuits, let me tell you about a case that came 
directly under my personal observation. While living 
in a prominent southern city, I had occasion to know 
of a very large distiller, who was a member of a very 
aristocratic church. The question was raised, one day, 
as to whether the church had a right to admit, or re¬ 
tain as a member any one who was engaged in the 
liquor business. After some discussion, they decided 
it was contrary to the rules of the denomination, of 
which that particular church was a part. They noti¬ 
fied the wealthy distiller, who was one of their largest 
contributors, that if he desired to continue his mem- 
berhip in that church, or any other of their denomina- 


102 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


tion, he would have to dispose of his business. He 
took it under consideration and decided to sell out, 
which he did. He built a handsome skyscraper office 
building, which bore his name, and a magnificent row 
of business houses, which were rented for legitimate 
purposes. He had a handsome income from his new 
business and became one of the foremast citizens of 
that city.” 

“I have no grude against the men engaged in this 
awful traffic, gentlemen, but it is the business itself 
and its ruinous effects upon other kinds of business 
and people generally, that I am opposed to. I am sat¬ 
isfied that there are a good many most capable men 
engaged in the business, who could and would make a 
success in other lines, and they, like the one I have just 
described, would become some of the great pillars in 
the commercial world—yes, and after seeing their 
grave mistakes, they would become pillars in the 
church. The same can be said of the saloonkeepers 
and bartenders.” 

“Under the changed conditions, they would be 
living happy, contented lives and would not be ashamed 
to face any man. 

They and their wives and children would be recog¬ 
nized by both society and the churches.” 

“Now, gentlemen, you can see that instead of the 
men engaged in the liquor business going begging, 
they would be better off in every way than they 
now are and the whole country would prosper by reason 
of the change.” (Great applause). 

(Mr. Hill) “I congratulate you upon the logical 
reply you have made to my questions.” 


103 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


loses by the hundreds of thousands who go to prema¬ 
ture graves each year as a result of drink. One promi¬ 
nent man has estimated the number at 700,000 per 
year, but of course some of these are women. To be 
conservative, let us say 500,000. Each of the 500,000 
shortens his life at least five years by reason of drink 
and let us see what these men in different vocations 
would be able to earn if they were sober and indus¬ 
trious. Their average wages should be $60.00 per 
month. That would be $720.00 per year for each and 
$150,000,000 per year total, or $750,000,000 in five 
years. This is what we lose in earning power and even 
if it could be divided among the various legitimate en¬ 
terprises it would be a big addition to the present 
business.” 

Now, gentlemen, I think I have covered the 
ground pretty thoroughly and if I have overlooked any¬ 
thing of importance, from the business standpoint, I 
trust you will pardon my oversight. In closing my re¬ 
marks I desire to thank you for the patient attention 
given me during the address and I hope you will profit 
by it, and that some day not far distant we may again 
meet,—not to discuss the liquor business, but the great 
improvement that has come to our country since the 
liquor traffic was extirpated. I thank you and wish 
you God speed.” Loud and prolonged cheering. 

“Pardon me, Professor, (Mr. Hill) but I would 
like to ask you a question before we part.” 

“I am at your service, Mr. Hill.” 

“What disposition will be made of the distilleries 
and breweries when prohibition carries the day, and 
how will the many thousands of business houses that 


100 


Fallacies of Our National Government. 


are occupied as saloons be used ? Yes, and what about 
the thousands of men who are engaged in the manu¬ 
facture and sale of liquor, how would they be provided 
for?” 

“I am very glad, Mr. Hill, that you have asked 
these questions, because, in trying to think of the 
many phases of the business, and more particularly 
the damage it does all kinds of legitimate business, I 
had overlooked this very important side of the 
issue.” 

(Mr. Ahlers) “I am also very much pleased to 
have Mr. Hill ask these questions, for I can readily 
see that this part of the question will make a very 
interesting article for my magazine, for I believe that 
this particular thing has caused a great many business 
men and others to hesitate about voting the prohibi- 
bition ticket.” 

(Professor Bennett) “I think you are right, Mr. 
Ahlers, and now for the answers. Let us go back, if 
you please, to the statistics I gave you, whereby it 
was shown that over one-tenth as much money was 
spent for liquor as there was, or is, for sixteen of the 
leading things in our country. Now, for example, let 
us increase the business of these various enterprises 
ten per cent. Bear in mind that it now takes thous¬ 
ands of factories, employing millions of men, to supply 
the demand, and it takes hundreds of thousands of 
wholesale and retail stores to handle the products of 
the various factories; to say nothing of the millions 
of employes such as presidents, vice presidents, secre¬ 
taries, treasurers, managers, bookkeepers, clerks, 
traveling men, porters, teamsters, stenographers, cash- 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


(Mr. Ahlers) “I desire to say, and I assume the 
responsibility of including the other gentlemen pres¬ 
ent, that your entire address, Professor, has been a 
very successful portrayal of the benefits that would 
follow the abolition and destruction of the liquor 
traffic. We are all greatly indebted to the Professor 
for his masterful address made us, and when I publish 
it, I dare say it will be copied by the leading maga¬ 
zines and newspapers of the country. I firmly believe 
it will be recorded in future histories and that even 
those engaged in the business we have been discussing 
will call him blessed for contributing a speech that 
helped to rid them of the shackles with which they 
had been bound for so many years.” 

“Now, gentlemen, we surely owe the Professor a 
vote of thanks for what I consider the grandest address 
on record, so let us rise.” 

As they arose, they began to cheer, and kept it up, 
until the Professor was compelled to rise the third 
time and bow his acknowledgments. After an exchange 
of felicitations on the interesting and successful meet¬ 
ing held each, after resolving to work with renewed 
zeal and interest in the prohibition cause, departed for 
his home. 


104 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


CHAPTER XIII. 

MEMORIAL DAY. 

Of all the days we Americans celebrate, there is 
none in which the hypocrisy of the people, in general, 
is shown up so glaringly. 

This hypocrisy includes the President, Vice Pres¬ 
ident, ex-President, Congressmen, Senators, preachers 
and last, but by no means least, newspaper editors. 

We take up an evening paper the day before Dec¬ 
oration, and we note an editorial headed, “THE NA¬ 
TION'S DEAD." In the lines that follow, glowing 
tributes are paid the old soldiers, which is perfectly 
right and proper. 

The editor says in part: “To-day the school chil¬ 
dren of the country will gather flowers which the old 
soldiers to-morrow will lay with reverent love and ten¬ 
der memory upon the graves of comrades they haven't 
seen, except in spirit, for half a century. 

While the children are doing their work of love, 
in a wave of patriotic enthusiasm, the white-haired 
veteran of the fiercest battles of modern times looks 
about him and sees what is enough to sadden the heart 
of the man who has believed he offered his life that his 
country might always be safe—and free. 

“He sees a danger to the country he thought safe. 
He fears for that beloved country's life. 

He sees what might be a ghost of the old specter 
grown greater and stronger in the 51 years since he 
marched away from the girl he left behind him*. 

He puts his life into his country's hands in a 


105 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


war that grew upon the foundation of slavery. He 
saw the black slave made free. 

To-day he sees the same black m*an chained side 
by side with a white man—and both are slaves, (TRUE) 
if not in the sense of chattel-property, slaves still.” 

If this editor, and hundreds of others who write 
in such strains on such occasions, cared as much for 
suffering humanity and true remedies for their re¬ 
lief as they try to make their readers believe, they 
would tell them of the things that are doing the coun¬ 
try more harm than anything else. But an advertise¬ 
ment on another page of this same newspaper explains 
to a considerable degree why they don’t, and why they, 
along with others we have classified, continually act the 
hypocrite, namely: “Pennsylvania Select Beer—is 
our MUTUAL FRIEND.” This is one time they told 
the truth—it is THEIR MUTUAL FRIEND. 

On another page it has “Pabst Blue Ribbon—the 
beer of quality.” 

This is inconsistency personified. 

The “filthy lucre” they receive for these ads, and 
some others prevent them from saying, “statistics show 
that 700,000 men and women are sent to drunkards’ 
graves every year, in this country alone, as a direct 
result of government license, and it is costing the peo¬ 
ple about two billions of dollars, to say nothing of the 
additional tax of at least 25 per cent, to support the 
different institutions that have to be maintained by 
states and nation, as a direct result of it. 

If the President and ex-President can stop their 
slander of each other for 24 hours, no doubt both will 


106 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


be honor guest at some memorial service, and both 
will wear long faces for the occasion. But while weep¬ 
ing over the graves of the heroes of our civil strife, 
why not, Mr. President and ex-President, let a few 
tears drop on some of the ten million graves in paupers' 
burying grounds, which have been made by permis¬ 
sion of the United States Government? Not worth 
while, did you say? No, it seems not, for if you have 
your way, and Almighty God does not call a halt, ten 
million more will be placed beside them, or on top of 
them, because of lack of space in which to bury them. 

Hundreds of ministers eulogize the dead heroes of 
©ur civil strife, who sacrificed their lives that the col¬ 
ored people might be free, and every four years go out 
and vote for a political party that they absolutely know 
to be giving license to a traffic that is one hundred 
times as bad as the enslavement of the colored people 
was. 

You know what the good book says about robbing 
widows and orphans? Which is the worst, to vote to 
create them or rob them after they are created? If 
they were not created by the damnable traffic for which 
you vote, there would be no opportunity to rob, there¬ 
fore, we claim that the man who votes for a party 
which stands for a traffic that creates them by the 
hundreds of thousands each year is more guilty than 
those who rob them. 

You can pour out your eloquence upon vast audi¬ 
ences of people on memorial days, like oil spread upon 
the waters of the entire world, and you cannot cover 
up the wrong you have done with your votes. 

Let some Congressman offer a bill to have the U. 


107 




Fallacies of Our National Government. 


S. Government appropriate enough money to buy just 
a single carnation every year for every drunkard's 
grave in this country that it is directly responsible for 
and such a howl would go up in the halls of Congress 
as was never heard before. Do you know how much 
it w r ould take?—only five hundred thousand dollars a 
year—just one seven-hundredth part of what is paid 
the same government for the privilege of creating the 
graves. 

Yes, you can weep on Decoration Day, but your 
weeping reminds us of the paid mourners spoken of 
in the Bible. Your crocodile tears can flow whenever 
the occasion demands. 

If, as those in high government authority claim* 
the $335,000,000 received in revenue from the liquor 
traffic each year is necessary to the support of the 
government, then the hundreds of thousands of men 
and women, whose lives are sacrificed each year as a 
direct result of the infamous business, are just as 
much heroes as those who gave up their lives to free 
the colored man and save the Union. Yes, more so, 
for they not only give up their lives, but surrender their 
souls to Satan. 

Again, to meet their argument and “school-boy 
logic" the newspapers have recently quoted two prom¬ 
inent Congressmen, who claim that if the Govern¬ 
ment were run on a business-like basis, anywhere from 
$300,000,000 to $450,000,000 could be saved annually. 
The first mentioned figures are just $35,000,000 less 
than the revenue on liquor and the larger amount is 
$115,000,000 in excess of it. This shows that the 
revenue from liquor is not necessary to help maintain 


108 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


the Government if it were properly conducted. 

If the two notable Congressmen had gone into 
detail they might have stated that if the thousands 
of unnecessary positions that have been created for 
the purpose of giving Congressmen an opportunity to 
place their friends and relatives in lucrative positions 
were done away with, the savings from this “patron¬ 
age crime” alone would amount to hundreds of millions 
annually. 

We are being bled to-day by the food barons who 
have been created by a beneficent Government—no, by 
POLITICIANS—for we have not had a government 
since Lincoln was assassinated. It has been a POLIT¬ 
ICAL GAME, with the people as martyrs, while the 
politicians, liquor element and unmerciful millionaires 
have divided the spoils. How long do YOU propose to 
stand for it ? 

May God not only help us to overthrow the Great 
Curse that is blighting our land, like a hot July wind 
during a severe drouth, and ruining our young man¬ 
hood and womanhood, but may He also deliver us from 
POLITICIANS and HYPOCRITES. 


109 









































Fallacies of Our National Government. 


CHAPTER XIV. 

TWO FARMERS HAVE A CHAT. 

William Purdy and John Rawlings lived on the 
Springfield pike, not far from, Springfield. One day 
they met at the Springfield fair, and being fast friends, 
they walked with locked arms around the stalls of the 
fine horses commenting on the good qualities of first 
one horse and then another. After making the rounds 
among the horses they inspected the cattle. There 
were the fine Jerseys, Durhams, Alderneys, Short¬ 
horns and others. Then an inspection of the sheep and 
hogs followed. 

Will said, “Well, John, I am feeling pretty tired 
after such a stroll. Suppose we go over to the grand¬ 
stand and sit down awhile ?” 

John said, “That suits me first rate, William, for 
my corns have been bothering me considerably of late.” 

The two old chums sauntered to the grandstand 
and took a seat on the top row. Here they entered 
into a conversation about the town. 

“Bill, have you ever noticed what an improvement 
there has been in this old town the last three years ?” 

“Yes, I have, John, and what do you lay it to ?” 

“Do you remember about five years ago most of 
the farmers around here were buying nearly all 
their supplies in the cities, and the old town like to 
have went under? What do you suppose got into the 
farmers to cause them to go back on their county 
town ? They got it into their heads that they could do 
better away from home until a few of them got stuck 


ill 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


by one of them there catalogue houses in C-.” 

“How did it happen, John?” 

“Well, there is Charley Simpson, on the Jack Run 
road, for instance. He built a new house and sent 
away for all his lumber, hardware, paint, roofing, etc., 
and he thought he was going to have everything com¬ 
plete. When he came to the frames his carpenter said 
he could not use them as they were made wrong, and 
he had to buy some more from Gernert & Brother. 
Then there was no window casing and he had to buy 
that. He was short his cupboard doors and had to 
order them from Gernert & Brother. He said the door 
locks were such cheap things he would not use them. 
The roofing is not what he expected and the paint 
is all peeling off the house. Well maybe you think he 
was not hot under the collar about it all and you just 
oughter hear him bless those catalogue fellers. And 
Chester Jones had about the same experience. They 
told it to nearly everybody in the county. Do you 
remember when John Gompers’ eldest gal got mar¬ 
ried?” 

“Yes, that was about four years ago, warnt it ?” 

“Yes, it was four years last month. Well, John 
thought he would get ahead of the jeweler at Spring- 

field and he sent to C-for a number of wedding 

presents for the gal and don't you know he got bit 
on every one of them. Different farmers throughout the 
county who had received catalogues got the craze, and 
nearly every one of them has been feeling pretty sore 
ever since. They had a little mass meeting one day 
and related their experiences, and complained about 
the poor prices they had been getting for their* cattle, 


112 












V 

































THE PROSPEROUS CITY 







Fallacies of Our National Government. 


eggs, butter, corn, wheat, etc., in Springfield. John 
Smith was present, and you know he is somewhat of a 
talker as well as a philosopher, and he said, ‘I have 
been listening to you fellers with considerable interest 
and the way you have been chasing gold bricks away 
off in that Big City is enough to make anybody 
grin. I am glad you have learned the lesson and now 
what you want to do is to go back to the goose that 
lays the golden eggs. Go back to the Springfield mer¬ 
chants who were always your friends, and I guess 
most of you have learned by now that you can do better 
at home than you can away. Don't you know those 

fellers away off there in C- don't care anything 

about you except to get your money ? When they cheat 
you and you begin to howl about it they do you like 
the clown in the circus did my uncle, when I was a boy. 
My Uncle got in late and couldn't find a seat and as 
he walked around the ropes that enclosed the ring, the 
clown happened to hear him growl and, just like a 
clown, he said, ‘You needn't growl old man, we've 
got your fifty cents.' 

“Now, there is another thing, boys, about chasing 
after those fellers away off, and that is, they don't 
pay any taxes here, they don't have any employes to 
eat what you and I raise, they are not here to help sup¬ 
port our schools and churches and keep up our roads 
and streets and they don't deposit their money in our 
town banks. Now it is just the opposite with the mer¬ 
chants in Springfield. They pay taxes and they hire 
clerks, bookkeepers, teamsters, etc. They do business 
with our banks. They send their children to school and 
pay a school tax. They help support our churches and 


113 




Fallacies of Out National Government. 


they help to support our county paper by advertising in 
it. And last, but by no means least, they help to make 
a prosperous community for you and me to live in 
and sell our produce to and increase the value of our 
Land. I move that we vote unanimously to go back 
to Springfield with our business. 

“Henry Walker seconded the motion, which car¬ 
ried without a dissenting vote, and that is why old 
Springfield is thriving to-day and looks like a new town 
and as a result everybody in town and all the farmers 
in the county are happy and prosperous as the fine 
displays of horses, cattle, sheep and hogs here to-day 
indicate. Now, Bill, what do you think?” 

“Well, I think they acted very wisely.” 

“And what do you think would happen to one of 
those catalogue house fellers if he should come to town 
to-day?” 

“Well, I wouldn’t give much for his hide when 
they got through with him.” 

“William, I think that Uncle Sam had better get 
after those catalogue house fellers instead of the lum¬ 
ber dealers, and I don’t blame the lumber dealers for 
exposing those fellers. They oughter be exposed, for 
they are a menace to the country, and especially the 
farmers, because the farmers very seldom build more 
than one house; therefore they know nothing about 
grades and measurements and it is easy to fool them. 
Uncle Sam pretends to be the friend of us farmers, 
and if he wants to do us a real favor, let him get busy 
on those fellers.” 

“Bill, I don’t think Uucle Sam, or rather Mr. Taft, 


114 




THE DESERTED TOWN. 
































































































. 













































































































» 

























Fallacies of Our National Government. 


is losing any sleep over us, or he would not have 
worked so hard for that Canadian ‘resiprosity bill.’ ” 

“You are just right on that question, William. 
I didn’t think much of that ‘resiprosity’scheme, for it 
would have helped the brewers more than anyone else. 
I saw an article that said it would save them about 
forty million dollars a year, and what do we care ’bout 
‘those brewers ?’ ” 

Right you are, Bill.”. 

The following letter written by a Congressman 
to one of his farmer constituents who had “demanded” 
a vote for the parcels post, presents one of the in¬ 
stances where a Congressman had views and was not 
afraid to put them in writing: 

“I was pleased to have your letter of recent date 
because it gives me an opportunity to straighten some 
misapprehension I fear you entertain. You say you 
are surprised to hear that I am opposed to the parcels 
post. Who told you that ? On the other hand I am in 
favor of a local parcel post whereby the farmers and 
the home market might have ready and cheap traffic 
communication, but I am opposed to the scheme of 
the big city mail order houses coming into a commun¬ 
ity at Government expense or at Government favor to 
break down the home market and then form a big 
trust and boost prices according to their own sweet 
will, as other trusts have done. Of course if you are 
in favor of sending money away to the big city mail 
order houses where not a penny of it ever comes back 
to help local enterprises, I do not agree with you and 
think you are mistaken, although doubtlessly honestly 
so. 


115 




Fallacies of Our National Government. 


I know that my own farm within two miles of 
town is worth $25 more per acre than if it were located 
from 10 to 15 miles from a good home market. I know, 
too, that land in the vicinity of a lively home market 
is always worth vastly more than when situated near 
a poor home market. You know this as well as I. You 
also know that these big mail order houses do not pay 
a penny of taxes or anything else to help the local 
community to better things. I have been a farmer, 
as you know, and practically all my life have been an 
observer of trade conditions, and while a farmer might 
make a few dollars by patronizing the mail order 
houses, I believe if all people would do the same thing 
the farmer would find himself located in a lifeless and 
stand-still community. 

You say that mail order houses are not instigators 
of the general parcels post, and that 90 per cent, of the 
people of my district are in favor of a general parcels 
post. This proves conclusively that you are not well 
informed and that you are speaking from personal 
preference rather than information. I have always 
been a believer in progress, enterprise and upbuilding 
of society by providing better home conditions for 
everybody. I do not believe this can be done by send¬ 
ing money of the local community away to the big city. 
I may be wrong in this for I have long since learned 
that I am not always right. I have tried to cast every 
vote since I have been in Congress in favor of the 
largest measure of good to the largest number, but it 
is impossible for any man to vote to please all. 

It seems to me if I could establish a plan whereby 
better roads, better schools, better churches, better 


116 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


homes and more convenient home markets might be 
provided for rural communities, I would accomplish 
something for posterity, although this policy of pro¬ 
gressive ideas does not meet with the approval in the 
estimation of the man who lives largely for himself 
alone. 


117 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


CHAPTER XV. 

THE CROSS OF GOLD. 

This title will remind our readers of one of the 
most famous political speeches ever delivered, namely, 
the speech made by Mr. William Jennings Bryan before 
the Democratic National nominating convention in 
Chicago in 1896. In this address Mr. Bryan aroused 
his hearers to such a pitch of enthusiasm that the del¬ 
egates overwhelmingly turned to him as) the most 
available leader for the coming campaign. 

A few words will explain the significance of this 
phrase which gave such force to Mr. Bryan’s speech. 
The orator argued that gold had been steadily depre¬ 
ciating in value, that is, in its purchasing power of the 
staples of life. Wages, however, continued to be paid 
upon the old gold scale. Now then, if the gold in which 
the wages were paid had less purchasing value, the 
result was that there has been a steady decrease in 
wages. We are not here discussing the correctness or 
incorrectness of Mr. Bryan’s theory, but this brilliant 
and forceful speech may serve us well as a text for a 
few pertinent observations. Mr. Bryan’s logic illus¬ 
trates the practice in which many economists indulge. 
For he rivets his attention upon one of the many polit¬ 
ical and economic issues which affect the welfare of 
the laboring man, while he ignores the vastly m,ore im¬ 
portant issues which bear a thousandfold more vitally 
upon them. 

Assuming that what Mr. Bryan says is true, and 
that the power of money is depreciating, measured in 


119 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


terms of the staples of life, is it not blind folly to dis¬ 
cuss this point with heat and vehemence, while we ignore 
the impoverishment of the people and the insufficiency 
of their wages to supply their material comforts, 
through the enormous consumption of intoxicating 
drinks? Here is the real cross upon which the people 
are crucifying themselves. Admitting that the con¬ 
sumption by our nation for alcoholic beverages amount 
to $2,000,000,000 yearly, any thoughtful man can 
quickly figure the vast increase of material comforts 
that would be available for the wage earning class 
could this fearful waste be stopped and the expenditure 
be turned into legitimate channels. This is wherein 
our government is money-mad and corrupt. It can see 
the $335,000,000 coming in, but it cannot see the 
$2,000,000,000 going out, to say nothing of the 700,000 
lives that are sacrificed as a direct result. 


120 




THE CROSS OF GOLD. 

I admire your taste, gentlemen—Uncle Sam 




* I 












































































* 

















Fallacies of Our National Government. 


CHAPTER XVI. 

PENNSYLVANIA’S SHAME, IN WHICH TWO 

UNITED STATES SENATORS TAKE PART. 

As stated in the preface our government is no 
longer run by the people and for the people, but by 
politicians and for politicians, and a better example 
of this cannot be found than in Pennsylvania. 

In the preceding chapter we have told about female 
white slaves, but in Pennsylvania we have slaves of 
both kinds, white and colored, and some of the white 
slaves fought in the civil war to free the colored man. 

Whoever robbed the] people by giving state legis¬ 
latures the right to elect our United States Senators 
was a designing politician and those United States Sen¬ 
ators of to-day, whether they reside in Pennsylvania 
or elsewhere, who are opposed to the people electing 
their Senators, instead of having them chosen by ma¬ 
chine legislatures, are just as tricky as the men who 
were responsible for the law that gives them the right 
to buy their way into office. And we need not wonder 
that this same class of political usurpers are oppossed 
to the initiative, referendum and recall- They have 
good reasons to believe that they would be the first to 
suffer at the hands of a long-suffering and indignant 
people who, in this twentieth century, are just begin¬ 
ning to get their eyes open. 

A few centuries ago, such men would have been 
beheaded. 

It is high time that the people are waking up 
from their Rip Van Winkle Slumber, for they have had 


121 




Fallacies of Our National Government. 


all but their birthrights stolen from them, while they 
were asleep on the political powder administered years 
ago. 

Talk about monarchy—we have it right in Penn¬ 
sylvania. One does not have to cross the ocean to find 
it in these “enlightened” times. 

Pennsylvania’s shame began when Quay secured 
through a machine legislature the opportunity to put 
a yoke upon the people. He built up a powerful polit¬ 
ical machine, so powerful, in fact, that he had thous¬ 
ands of subjects that were willing to bow to him and 
do his bidding the same as the subjects of the Phar- 
oahs of Egypt obeyed them. If the subjects of the 
Pharoahs failed to obey, off came their physical heads. 
If the subjects of Quay declined to execute his com¬ 
mands, off came their political heads. 

His powers even reached banks and bankers, and 
although he has been dead for some years, his spirit 
of evil still lives. It was only a few years ago that one 
of his subjects was sent to “Riverside on the Ohio.” 

It is bad policy to allow any political party to be¬ 
come so strongly entrenched that it can build up a ma¬ 
chine to keep control, for when that occurs, (as events 
not only in Pennsylvania, but other states will prove) 
it invites corruption, and the corruption in Pennsyl¬ 
vania and New York has been enough to make a vul¬ 
ture sick, to say nothing of the nausea it causes all 
respectable people. 

It was Dr. Silas C. Swallow, the well-known, gifted 
and highly respected student, teacher, church layman, 
pastor, presiding elder, editor and author of “111 Score 


122 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


and X,” or “Selections—Collections and Recollections,” 
who first discovered graft at Harrisburg. 

By special permission, we quote from Doctor 
Swallow’s famous book, which is as follows: 

“My most convenient walk from my home in 
North Sixth street to the Methodist Book Rooms, of 
which I had then been superintendent for five years, 
was through the State Capitol grounds, where I wit¬ 
nessed extensive changes going on in both buildings 
and grounds. Daniel Hartman Hastings, named for a 
veteran Methodist preacher, had been elected Gov¬ 
ernor in 1894. He was the third citizen of Bellefonte, 
county seat of the central county of the State, and 
called Centre, who had been elected to that high office; 
Curtin, in 1860, and as the War Governor re-elected in 
1863; Beaver, in 1886, and, as before stated, Hastings, 
in 1904. He had appointed one to an important office 
in his cabinet, to be known here as Joncie De Lancey 
which was the signal for all sorts of changes, many of 
them utterly uncalled for in the estimation of thought¬ 
ful observers, and excusable only on the ground that 
the State was plethoric in cash and the taxpayers 
needed further to be bled. Four years before, $125,000 
had been spent on the House of Representatives and 
now $70,000 additional was put upon it. A rose house 
worth $500 cost nearly four times that amount. A 
flagpole for the Soldiers’ Orphan School at Scotland, 
worth $50 had cost nearly eight times that amount, 
and a private room in that school, well stocked with 
liquors at the public expense, was maintained where 
government officials drank to drunkenness and gam¬ 
bled for keeps. Granolithic pavements around the cap- 


123 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


itol grounds were costing two or three times their 
value. Expensive furniture slightly soiled, was pri¬ 
vately disposed of to favorite purchasers, I will not 
say how, and they divided the spoils with those who 
favored them. Other new furniture was receipted for 
at the capitol and then hauled to private houses. It 
cost $200 to hang a picture and $18 each for a large 
number of spittoons. Six men, political hangers-on, 
guarded one gallery door at $6 a day each, or $36 a day 
for guarding an “unimportant hole in the wall.” High 
salaries were being paid to subordinate officials, their 
duties being farmed out for one-third of what they 
themselves received, while they remained at their 
homes engaged in their own personal business. The 
payrolls were padded at times with scores of party 
workers who were doing nothing for the State. Pocket 
knives for the legislators were advertised for, the max¬ 
imum price being $4.00 each, as were also expensive 
corkscrews, the use for which the reader can imagine. 
These are only samples of hundreds of cases. As I 
passed through the Capitol grounds four or five times 
a day, I became familiar from a variety of sources 
with these, then astounding expenditures, that 
reached, for unimportant changes in the building alone 
an amount approximating $700,000. 

Wanamaker’s Fight. 

True, John Wanamaker had conducted a personal 
fight for the United States Senatorship as against 
Quay's candidate, Boies Penrose, and lost. True too 
that Hastings had made a fight against Quay, but in 
both cases it was a contention for the mastery, for the 


124 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


boss-ship of the State, for the loaves and fishes. 
Neither of them dare make the fight on moral grounds, 
for Wanamaker’s relation to the Harrison campaign, 
which Quay managed from his headquarters in New 
York City, on the theory that as goes New York so 
goes the Union; as goes the city, so goes the State; as 
goes one ward of the city, so goes the city; and as 
goes one man in the ward, so goes the ward, precluded 
it. Large sums of money were collected from the man¬ 
ufacturers and other business men of Philadelphia and 
carried over to Quay to insure New York and the 
Union by securing one man in one ward of that city 
for Republicanism and the tariff. ***** 

The grafters had various meetings, and there was 
much discussion as to what course was best. Some 
said, “Ignore him.” Others said, “Prosecute him.” 
Governor Hastings requested different heads of de¬ 
partments to prosecute, which was politely declined, 
till he came to Johncie De Lancey, who knew better 
than any other the truth of my charges. To him 
Hastings said: “You must prosecute.” And he did, 
but was careful in all the scuffle that followed, to pro¬ 
tect himself by keeping off the witness stand. If he 
and the administration had been libeled, he should have 
told how or wherein. But “prudence was the best 
part of his valor.” 


Spectacular Bluff. 

I was summoned to appear before Mayor Patter¬ 
son to give bail. The venerable E. 0. Dare was the 
first to offer his name on my bail bond. My old friend 
John E. Baker and his good wife of York, Pennsyl- 


125 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


vania, telegraphed me: “We will bail you for $100,- 
000.” Edwin Bowers, and a half score of others, came 
forward to sign the bond, till the space for signatures 
was filled. The preliminary hearing was fixed for the 
court house on an evening. It was crowded. They 
had brought numerous witnesses from the Soldiers* 
Orphan Schools to establish their honesty and by infer¬ 
ence their own integrity. But more especially to im¬ 
press me with the danger I was in, and with the wis¬ 
dom of recanting and of publishing the recantation. 
But I was not just then in the ‘Tessin* ** business. I 
was amused at the tempest in the mushpot and said 
“We’ll go to court.** 

A $25,000 Bait. No Gudgeons Around. 

A few days after, a man known about town as Doc. 
Gray, came to my house and after much circumlocu¬ 
tion informed me patronizingly that the State author¬ 
ities did not wish to hurt me, that they were really 
friendly to me, and while he had no personal knowl¬ 
edge of their wishes, he would venture the guess that 
if I would put just one little sentence in the “Meth¬ 
odist,” saying that I had been misinformed as to the 
stealing and the Capitol fire, he had no doubt it would 
be worth $25,000 to me. 

To this I replied: “Doc., go back and tell the men 
who sent you that I am a high-priced man. If they 
will name twenty-five millions, I will consider it over 
night.** Our friend thereupon took his hat and bade 
us good morning. *********** 

Suffice it to say here that this one sentence, more 
than any other one sentence, among the many pro- 


126 




DR. SILAS C. SWALLOW. 








































— 









































































































































































Fallacies of Our National Government. 


nounced by Messrs. Murray, Jackson and Stranahan, 
thrust into the faces of the seven judges of the Super¬ 
ior Court with emphasis by each of these able attor¬ 
neys, brought from that body a reversal of the lower 
court on the one indictment on which I had been found 
guilty, and brought too, the right of a new trial which 
the State thieves never had the courage to prosecute. 
They had enough vindication, such as it was. The 
publication of the Superior Court decision, suffice it to 
say was unaccountably postponed till after the election 
of 1898; and I, as candidate for Governor, thus had no 
advantage therefrom. 

After the trial, I never could even by accident, 
meet the judge. Once I thought we were about to meet 
on the street, and I was ready to bid him the time of 
day, but he conveniently slipped into an intervening 
alley and quietly pursued his journey home. A year 
after, he remarked at a boarding house table, in the 
hearing of one of my counsel, though not intended for 
his ear, “That court trial was one of the greatest mis¬ 
takes ever made in our county.” 

We consider ourselves fortunate, indeed, to be 
able to quote from such high and unquestionable au¬ 
thority as Doctor Swallow, and we: are sorry that our 
space will not permit further quotation. 

That the graft at Harrisburg did not stop with 
the exposure of Doctor Swallow is proven by the mil¬ 
lions of dollars of graft taken out of the money ap¬ 
propriated for the new State Capitol at Harrisburg. 

New York and Pennsylvania both have suffered 
to the extent of millions in the erection of their would- 
be magnificent Capitol buildings. New York discov- 


127 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


ered how it had been buncoed after its fine edifice be¬ 
gan to crumble, but Pennsylvania happily discovered 
how its people had been duped when enough Republi¬ 
can votes were cast for a Democratic State Treasurer, 
to elect him, and in time to discover that there was 
“something rotten in Denmark,—no—in Harrisburg, 
by would-be “Denmarkians.” 

William H. Berry was the man chosen to do the 
work, and he did it so well that the “gang” has been 
howling ever since. They got something like five mil¬ 
lion dollars in the “rake-off.” They dilly-dallied so 
long with the prosecution, that most of the grafters, 
who were “prominent” men, had a chance to die “re¬ 
spectable” deaths, instead of being sent to the peni¬ 
tentiary. 

The then Republican governor was so badly 
“asleep on the job” that he did not know anything 
about it and was severely criticised for not attending 
to his business. To make himself more ridiculous than 
ever, he has recently written a book in which he de¬ 
fends the grafters, and says a great “injustice” has 
been done. It was disgraceful enough for him to be 
found with his eyes closed to what was going on right 
under his nose without searing his conscience until 
he had his mind believing that everything was all 
right. 

Penrose, Quay’s colleague as United States Sen¬ 
ator, after the decease of the latter, “went” Quay 
“one better” in tightening the ropes that have bound 
Pennsylvania for so n%any years. He has used mili¬ 
tary tactics by appointing a great number of lieuten¬ 
ants to improtant positions, and he has his subordin- 


128 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


ates so completely under his control that he can sit in 
Washington and run the entire political machinery of 
Pennsylvania, just the same as an engineer turns the 
throttle that lets the steam into the engine that sends 
the locomotive and its train bounding over the rails 
from one great city to another. And not only this, but 
by creating so many positions he increases his chances 
to hold on as the great State Boss by having his vari¬ 
ous lieutenants work on their friends and relatives to 
vote for the “Grand Old Party”—of who? Not of 
Lincoln—oh no! For whatever we do, don't let us 
drag the fair name of our beloved martyred President 
into such political mire, and thereby disgrace the mem¬ 
ory of him who stood for all that was pure, noble and 
good. So it is the Grand Old Party of the Usurper 
Penrose. 

There is no question about his power, for he loves 
to have people talk about it. Some newspapers have 
pictured him as a great and mjghty king on a throne, 
with his subjects bowing in obeisance to him. 

When such men as ex-Lieutenant Governor Mur¬ 
phy (the son of that noble sire, who won fame as 
the greatest temperance lecturer of his day) has to 
bow in humble submission to the will of such a political 
usurper, it m,akes all liberty-loving people grit their 
teeth. A few weeks prior to the last Republican (?) 
caucus in Pennsylvania, when a candidate was to be 
chosen for the governorship, the then Lieutenant-Gov¬ 
ernor Murphy was in Pittsburgh, circulating among 
his numerous friends and admirers, when one of them 
asked him if he was going to get the nomination. He 
replied that “he did not know, he was waiting to see 


129 



Fallacies of Our National Government, 


what Mr. Penrose was going to do.” The gritting of 
teeth of the good people of Pittsburgh, as a result of 
their indignation at such a remark by such a man as 
Mr. Murphy would have shaken the whole State if they 
could have added enough force to it. 

Well, Mr. Murphy, as we all know, did not get the 
nomination. And why? Was it because he was lack¬ 
ing in ability ? Was it because he was not clean enough ? 
No, it was because he had too much ability and was too 
clean a rn^an to suit Penrose. He wanted some one that 
would do his bidding and carry out his orders, and he 
was afraid Mr. Murphy would not do, so he took a man 
out of the halls of Congress. 

By this time the good people of Pennsylvania were 
boiling over with indignation, and as a result they held 
mass meetings throughout the State. As a further re¬ 
sult the great Keystone party was born and, thank 
God, in spite of all the political trickery of Penrose and 
his gang, it still lives. The Keystone party nominated 
William H. Berry, (the people’s faithful servant, who 
exposed the five million dollar State Capitol graft,) for 
Governor, and that grand, clean and noble fighter of 
the people, D. Clarence Gibboney, of Philadelphia, for 
Lieutenant-Governor. These two champions of the 
people took the stump in the interest of pure politics 
and worked night and day. Other grand men, too 
numerous to mention here, also took up the work. 
Although they had but six weeks in which to work, 
they shook the old State of Pennsylvania with their 
oratory and bitter denunciations. The excitement was 
equal to that of civil war times. The gang had all the 


130 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


political 5 machinery at their command and did all they 
could to defeat the people. 

Election day came, and the good people of the 
State, (who, the writer is proud to state,) are in the 
majority, had every reason to believe that they would 
win, and in fact they did win, but were cheated out of it. 
All kinds of corruption was resorted to in both Phila¬ 
delphia and Pittsburgh to defeat the will of the people, 
and there is no doubt in the minds of the majority of 
the people in Pennsylvania, to-day, that if an honest 
election had been held the Keystone party would have, 
won by a handsome majority. To prove that there was 
great fraud practiced in Philadelphia we will mention 
another fight, further on in this chapter. 

The new governor was inaugurated and further 
strengthened the machine which had placed him in 
power by making a number of appointments. The 
legislature convened and the fight began over again. 

Men—oh no—specimens of men, who had been 
elected on reform tickets and had promised to stand by 
the people and fight for their rights, sold out to the 
gang. But there was one Daniel in the bunch who re¬ 
fused to partake of the “King's” meat and wine, and 
whom we will bring into our narrative a little later. 

“A house divided against itself cannot stand.” 
The Mayor of Pittsburgh, who is a member of the 
gang, wanted to open the political mputh of Pittsburgh 
and let it swallow all the boroughs, towns and cities in 
the county, so as to increase his prestige. But, as luck 
would have it, some of the machine legislators who 
did not care to have their own towns and cities, and all 
they contained, both body and soul, swallowed by such 


131 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


a filthy throat most strenuously objected, and voted 
against the Greater Pittsburgh “Bill” and bill, and it 
went down in defeat, but not until another stalwart 
people’s rights champion had exposed the Mayor and 
his plots, as well as his past record. There was talk 
of a suit for slander, but it was never brought, from 
the fact that the honorable mayor no doubt thought 
it was best to “let well enough alone.” The champion 
in this case was Mr. A. Leo Weil, President of the 
Voters’ Civic League of Pittsburgh, and a gentleman 
who is always on the lookout for the welfare of the 
people. Never was a man’s character so thoroughly 
torn to threads as that of William A. Magee by Mr. 
Weil and never did a man show greater courage than 
Weil did when Magee was threatening suit. Mr. Weil 
invited him to sue, and even offered to stand the ex¬ 
pense Magee might be put to, if he would sue, but, as 
stated, Magee knew better, for it might have proven 
that “the half had never been told.” 

Let us return to the legislative halls at Harris¬ 
burg for a short while and note what is going on. 

A member of the machine introduced a bill that 
would take away the rights of the citizens of Pitts¬ 
burgh and Scranton to elect their own city councils, 
and give the Governor power to appoint, which meant, 
of course, that Senator Penrose would do the appoint¬ 
ing, for did not his self-appointed Governor run to 
Philadelphia, (the real capital of Pennsylvania) to see 
his boss about this, that and the other thing ? 

Committees, composed of the best citizens of both 
Pittsburgh and Scranton, went to Harrisburg by the 
train load to use their influence on the legislators, to 


132 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


get them to vote against this infamous bill, that would 
take away the rights of the people of two of the most 
important cities of the State, but they had received 
orders from headquarters and they closed their eyes 
to the people's desires and rights. As stated, a few 
pages back, the people had one brave champion in the 
legislature, whom we have referred to as a Daniel, and 
if there ever was a twentieth century Daniel, he is to 
be found in that xn,ost noble personage, the Honorable 
M. Clyde Kelly, of Braddock, Pennsylvania. There he 
stood like that famous warrior, Stonewall Jackson, 
fighting the gang, single handed. No general or pri¬ 
vate, ever fought a braver fight on any battlefield than 
did M. Clyde Kelly. If there is any truth in that old 
saying that a cat has nine lives, M. Clyde Kelly had 
nine times nine, for every time they knocked him down, 
he would pop up again, like the boy's jumping-jack. 
But what could one man do but worry them—and 
worry them he did. Nevertheless the voters of Pitts¬ 
burgh and Scranton were disfranchised. Think of such 
a thing happening in a State that furnished more 
soldiers to free the colored people than any other 
State! 

This, my readers, is the direct result of allowing 
a State legislature to appoint or elect our United States 
Senators and also in allowing any political party to be¬ 
come so powerful that it can do as it pleases, even if 
that pleasure be the deprivation of citizenship. The 
people asked the machine legislature for another favor, 
and this was the initiative, referendum and recall. Did 
they get it? Yes, like Johnnie “gets it" sometimes, 
when he comes home late. 


133 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


Kelly, the champion, was on the job again, when 
this question came up, and fought a brave fight, but all 
to no avail. 

The Honorable M. Clyde Kelly's friends (and 
they are numerous) want him to run for Congress, a 
position which his signal abilities well qualify him to 
fill. 

The good people of Philadelphia were aroused by 
the many frauds practiced at the last State election, 
which cheated the people out of their rights. They 
made up their minds that they would overthrow the 
city machine at the next election, which was held in 
November, 1911. 

Penrose seeing the determination of the people 
and fearing the outcome, plays the part of a reformer, 
by putting up the best man he could find who would be 
willing to obey his commands, if he should happen to 
be successful. But the people had been fooled too 
many times by Penrose to place any confidence in what 
he did. So the better element, in both the Republican 
and Democratic parties, got together and picked a good, 
clean man, and elected him, in spite of all the fraud the 
machine could practice. This is one time they failed 
in their calculations. They had no idea of the strength 
of the good people and were dumbfounded at the result. 

Mr. Blankenburg, the new Mayor, lost no time 
in declaring numerous reforms, by which he would save 
the city of Philadelphia hundreds of thousands of dol¬ 
lars. He is handicapped, the same way that the Hon¬ 
orable George W. Guthrie, ex-mayor of Pittsburgh, 
was handicapped, several years ago, when he was 
mayor, by having a machine council to tie his hands so 


134 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


completely that he could not carry into execution the 
m,any reforms he had contemplated. And right here, 
we will state that it was largely through the good 
work of Mr. Guthrie, that a number of the very council- 
men who had opposed him by thwarting his plans of 
reform were sent to the Riverside penitentiary. It 
will be utter folly for the Philadelphia machine to 
oppose the plans of Mayor Blankenburg, for by so do¬ 
ing they will bring further condemnation upon them¬ 
selves. 

In the face of such defeat, Penrose will hardly 
try to put on sheep's clothing again, for he now realizes 
that the people are done with him. 

In spite of all the contemptible things Penrose has 
done in Philadelphia, and Pennsylvania, of which Pres¬ 
ident Taft is, or should be cognizant, he has taken de¬ 
light in honoring him. President Taft presented him 
with the famous pen with which he signed the Cana¬ 
dian reciprocity bill. Thousands of farmers would 
have delighted in placing the same pen under their feet 
and crushing it into a thousand pieces. 

It is firmly believed by thousands that Speaker 
Champ Clark was not the only man in this country that 
helped to defeat the reciprocity bill. 

This chapter would be incomplete if we should fail 
to mention another United States Senator, who has 
slipped into power against the wishes of the people at 
the command of the State Boss to his machine legisla¬ 
ture. Penrose was not satisfied with his power in 
Philadelphia and the eastern part of Pennsylvania. He 
also desired to control the western end of the State. 
He thought it would be hard to find a better person 


135 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


to carry out his plans than George T. Oliver, a man 
who had longed for years to become a United States 
Senator. 

Oliver is the owner of two machine newspapers, 
and he has used them to the limit to get control of 
affairs in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County. In the 
recent primary it is said he spent over two hundred 
thousand dollars to have his henchmen nominated and 
elected. All but nine thousand dollars of this vast 
amount, it was stated, was wrung from politicians, 
bankers and manufacturers. A large manufacturer 
who contributed $5,000, afterwards complained of 
having been duped. The shame of it is, that a United 
States Senator would use his influence, as a club, to 
extract money from business men he might injure if 
they should refuse to contribute to his despicable ends. 

The second shame is in the fact that m,en can buy 
their way into office in a country that should be far 
above such contemptible things. 

Penrose’s confession before the United States Sen¬ 
ate—although made some months after this chapter 
was written,—more than substantiates all we have said. 

If our readers desire a good pen picture of Pen¬ 
rose and Oliver, they can find it in “Coniston,” by 
Winston Churchill. 


136 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


CHAPTER XVII. 

THE GREAT CURSE. 

In this chapter it is the intention of the writer to 
give his readers some facts that are enough to make 
the blood of almost any man boil with indignation, and 
at the same time, should so touch his heart with pity, 
as to make him determine henceforth to do all he can 
to help overthrow the monster that, according to a 
prominent man, whom we will quote, sends 700,000 
men and women in this country to their graves every 
year. 

The writer will first tell of some incidents that 
came under his personal observation. 

Some years ago, living in a Southern State, was a 
certain family, consisting of a father, mother, four; 
girls and three boys. All of them stood well in the 
town in which they lived. As our story, which *s a 
true one, will refer to only one member of the family, 
who was a girl of about eighteen and the third child 
of the family, we will launch our story by saying she 
was a blonde, of fine figure and graceful carriage, and 
very popular with the young men of the town who 
took turn-about in paying her marked attention. They 
kept her well supplied with large baskets of choice 
fruits and candies. Those were happy days in her life 
and they covered a period of three or four years. 
Finally one of the young men, who was engaged in 
business in his own name asked her a question that 
most young women long for, but not all hear,—and it 
would be far better for thousands of them that do hear, 
if they never had heard. Yes, he asked her to become 


137 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


his wife. As he was an ambitious young man who 
wanted to rise in the world (and as a man of this cal¬ 
iber appealed to her) she accepted his proffer, and in 
due time the wedding bells rang. 

Shortly after they were married he, like a good 
many other young men in the town, decided to move 
to a booming place in another part of the same State. 
He sold out his business. They moved to the new town 
where he engaged in the real estate business. As the 
town was growing at a rapid rate it soon became a 
city and he was accumulating a fortune rapidly. He 
became a director in one of the banks and was inter¬ 
ested in different enterprises. His wealth increased 
greatly. He built a magnificent home on the mountain 
side overlooking the city, which had all the latest inv 
provements of those days. His wife also became prom¬ 
inent in church and social circles. During a church 
conference of one of the leading denominations of the 
city she entertained several visiting ministers. She 
even had several pickaninnies dressed in white duck 
suits and caps to answer the door bell and wait on the 
table, and everything looked serene. 

The town was full of saloons and the husband 
was thrown with men who drank. As he was invited 
to “go in and have one” by different friends (?) he 
soon formed the habit, and became as bad as the rest 
of them. The city began to go backward, likewise 
his business, and where he had been taking only a few 
drinks, he now began to take many, and went home 
drunk. Matters went from bad to worse. Finally he 
lost all he had and had just enough money left to get 
out of town. They moved to first one place and then 


138 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


another, but he could not succeed on account of the 
habit he had formed. Finally they had to move to a 
dingy little three-roomed cottage in a very poor neigh¬ 
borhood. Five children had been born to them and it 
was a hard struggle to keep the wolf from the door- 
They wore scanty clothes and went without fire, ex¬ 
cept in the kitchen. What few dishes they had left 
were only broken relics of better days. He continued 
to drink hard and one day disappeared and was never 
heard of afterward. His poor wife now realized that 
she would have to do something to keep herself and 
children from starvation, so she took in sewing and 
some charitable people learned of her misfortune and 
helped her. Contrast this with her former happy and 
prosperous days and you will see the ill effects of the 
Demon Hum. 

We will leave this poor widow and her family 
at this sad period in their lives and tell our readers of 
another case in the State of Illinois, with the seat of 
our story in the suburbs of a large city, where the 
husband was employed as a bookkeeper by a prominent 
firm. 

Let us go back a few years to when they were 
sweethearts. She, like the girl in the other case, was 
of fine appearance, of a vivacious nature, tall and 
graceful, and an accomplished musician. He was 
above the medium height, of athletic build, with fine 
dark hair and eyes and rosy complexion. Their court¬ 
ship was a happy one. Six bright and good-looking 
children were born to them. Everything looked very 
promising. They had nice neighbors. She played the 
organ in one of the leading churches and was exceed- 


139 



Fallacies of Out National Government. 


ingly popular. Down in the big city, where hubby 
worked, temptations were as thick as flies around a 
m,olasses jar, and he was invited to take dinner with 
a friend (?) at a stylish hotel. The friend ordered 
some wine for himself and insisted on him having a 
glass of '‘good old California port.” He remarked that 
he did not indulge, but his friend said, “Oh, John, this 
one little glass will not hurt you in the least, it will 
only sharpen your appetite.” The friend insisted and 
John yielded. He was invited by this same friend (?) 
at different times to take lunch and each time they had 
either beer or wine. The habit grew on John, until 
he could not wait until his friend again invited him 
to dine with him and was soon going to a barroom to 
get one, or two, and after a short while, three and four 
drinks, until finally he actually went home, yes, to his 
handsome suburban home, pretty wife and beautiful 
children, drunk. 

His wife was heartbroken, and he promised never 
to do it again. But the habit had fastened itself upon 
him, until he did not have power to resist, so it was 
only a short while until he came home drunk again, 
again and again. The monthly payments on the house 
got weeks behind and then were stretched into months. 
His employers noticed his red eyes and bloated 
face, and they also noticed that he was not as atten¬ 
tive to business as formerly. They called him into 
their private office one day and informed him they had 
discovered he was drinking and not attending to busi¬ 
ness properly, and he would have to mend his ways or 
they would be compelled to discharge him. He tried to 
do better, but the demon had such a strong grip on 


140 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


him he could not withstand the temptation. So, one 
day, shortly after he had been called into the private 
office, he found a note on his desk, which read 

“Mr. J-: Dear Sir:—We are sorry to inform 

you that we will not need your services after this week. 

Respectfully, 

Blank & Co. 

Poor John dropped his head on the desk after 
reading the note and sobbed but his tears had come too 
late. 

Saturday night came and poor John walked out 
for good. His poor wife was heartbroken, but tried 
hard to hold up and put on a bold front. 

As John was “broke,” and had no money with 
which to buy more liquor, he was compelled to sober 
up for a few weeks. While sober, he secured another 
position, but in a few months he was down and out 
again. He was discharged. He sobered up a second 
time, and a third time, but finally went down for good. 
While he was drinking so hard, he got very abusive to 
his wife, called her all kinds of mean names and abused 
the children, hitting them with his hands and kicking 
them. They got delinquent in their payments on the 
home, and one day received notice that they would 
have to vacate. This was the worst disgrace of all, as 
the lovely young wife had made so many warm friends 
in the neighborhood, she hated to leave. She had to 
return to the home of her parents, who refused to have 
anything to do with the husband, and would not permit 
him to come near them. Could you blame them ? The 
wife assisted her mother with the household duties 


141 




Fallacies of Our National Government. 


and gave music lessons, and in this way managed to 
keep the wolf from the door. 

At this time the oldest boy was about fifteen. He 
secured a position with a big railroad company as night 
messenger. A year later, he obtained a better situa¬ 
tion in the office of another railroad company, and was 
getting along nicely, when a tumor developed upon his 
brain, and he had to give up his position. The muscles 
around his eyes and mouth became paralyzed and his 
face was distorted, until he was pitiful to behold. His 
tongue also became partly paralyzed and he could not 
speak distinctly. It was a mumbling sound that came 
forth instead of words, when he tried to speak. The 
doctors who attended him said his affliction was due to 
having been hit on the head. So the whole trouble 
originated from one of the blows his father had given 
him, four or five years previously, while on one of his 
periodical sprees. 

This, dear reader, is one of the curses of drink. It 
has ruined many a home. It has broken many a 
woman’s heart. It has made orphans of thousands of 
boys and girls. It has sent millions to drunkards’ 
graves. 

As a direct proof of the falsity of the claim that a 
drinking man is content to continue in his revels and 
debauchery, we will recite an incident that happened 
when the writer was a boy, living in a beautiful town 
on the Ohio river. Some of the sons of the most prom¬ 
inent families were frequenting saloons and some of 
them were fast becoming drunkards. The fathers 
started a local option movement. A time was set for 


142 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


the election. The brewers and distillers, and their 
faithful servants, the saloonkeepers, all got busy. The 
interest waxed warm and the excitement ran high. As 
a boy, the writer was interested, and on the day of the 
election, which took place in the court house, we stood 
by the door and watched the men go in to cast their 
votes “for” and “against.” We knew, or rather had a 
fair idea of how a good many of them, would vote. The 
constable of the town came along, with his big, bloated 
face and blood-shot eyes. Some man spoke to him, 
just before he entered, and we heard him say that he 
was going to vote against the saloons. He was a man 
that the Demon had put his clutches on, and he was 
struggling to get loose from the chains that the Na¬ 
tional Government had helped to weld, to bind him and 
other men with and turn them over, body and soul, to 
the proprietor of the bottomless pit. So when he came 
out of the court house door, with a smile on his big, red 
face, we said “Another soul made happy” and he gave 
us a smile of approval. 

A prominent attorney of the town, an old gentle¬ 
man of about sixty-five years of age, who was also the 
pillar of the Methodist church, had taken a very active 
part in the fight. He had a son who had been ruined 
by the saloons. About three days after the election 
this old gentleman was standing in the postoffice, talk¬ 
ing with a friend, when one of the defeated saloon¬ 
keepers came in. He knew that the old gentleman had 
worked hard against him, so he said: “I know why you 
took so much interest in that fight, old man! You want 
to save that son of yours, but the only way you will 
ever save him is to put him in a barrel and salt him 


143 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


down.” Boy as the writer was, this heartless remark 
made his blood boil, and if he ever wished he were a 
man, and strong enough to knock another man down, 
it was then. He could have hit him square in the 
mouth and sent his polluted body sprawling on the 
floor. 

A great many people believe that all saloon-keep¬ 
ers are happy, contented men, and are in love with the 
business in which they are engaged; but we contend 
it is not the truth. For any one to claim it is, would 
be doing some of these men injustice. The truth of 
the matter is, most of them are owned, body and soul, 
by the brewers and distillers. Of course there are ex¬ 
ceptions, and we will relate a case that came under our 
direct observation. While working for a large planing 
mill and lumber company, some year ago, in a South¬ 
ern city, as bookkeeper and collector, the writer had 
occasion to call at a certain saloon to collect money for 
the firm. The proprietor of the saloon had been in 
business for some years. One day he joined a certain 
large and popular order and a short time afterward 
sold out his business. The writer met him on the 
street one day and asked him how he liked his new 
position. He replied, “First rate,” and added that it 
was “a big improvement over running a saloon, which 
was nothing but a dog's life.” 

When a man, who has been in the business for a 
good many years and has tried to run a saloon a little 
on the respectable (?) order, (as advocated by a prom¬ 
inent churchman of this country, a few years ago,) has 
to admit that it is a “dog's life” you can know, of a cer¬ 
tainty, that the business has no charms for a man with 


144 











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- 

























































































































































































































































































































ANNUAL BALL AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 

Perfectly oblivious to conditions as depicted on 
opposite page. 




Fallacies of Our National Government. 


a conscience. Yes, we; believe there are a good many 
saloon keepers and bartenders, who would like to throw 
off the shackles of the brewers and distillers and be 
engaged in legitimate pursuits, and have men regard 
them as men, instead of “dogs,° as termed by one who 
had served in the business. 

Several years ago the W. C. T. U. got after four 
or five cafes in Pittsburgh for allowing young girls to 
bef served with drinks by their gentlemen (?) escorts. 
They had the proprietors hailed in court to answer the 
charges preferred, which resulted in a revocation of 
their licenses. One of these places was located in the 
basement of one of the fine office buildings, covering 
the entire space under the building, and everything 
was finished in elegant style. A large, beautiful foun¬ 
tain was shooting its pretty sprays of water at the en¬ 
trance. The orchestra played entrancing music, as the 
men marched by, with their young girl stenographers 
and others and took easy seats, back in the spacious 
dining room where they would order drinks with their 
meals. Of course this was only the beginning of the 
end. 

The chief of police of one of our large cities said a 
few years ago, that at least five hundred girls were 
ruined every month there as a result of the cafes, clubs 
and other places where liquor was sold, and where they 
were taken by men. No, not men, but by brutes. Man 
is too good a term to apply to any person who has so 
far forgotten himself and the fact that “his mother” 
was a woman, as to lead young girls astray. But the 
worst feature of it all is, that our State and National 
governments stand for such things. We say that the 


145 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


President of these United States, the Congressmen and 
Senators, have no right to call themselves men so long 
as they have the power to rise up and stamp this curse 
out and absolutely refuse to do so. The trouble with 
most of them is that they like their drams too well to 
cause them to take any action against it. 

It has been conservatively figured out that at least 
one hundred thousand men are sacrificed every year 
in this country by reason of the drink curse. Now let 
us look at these figures in a little different light, that 
we may fully appreciate their enormity. Let us take 
just one-fourth of one hundred thousand, to illustrate 
our point, and if you are of a sensitive nature, they 
will startle you. Just think of one or more cities that 
you know of, with a population of 25,000 inhabitants. 
Have you one in mind? Well, here is what we are go¬ 
ing to do with it. We will have the U. S. Government 
sell them to the brewers and distillers, for just the 
same number of millions they derive in revenue taxes 
each year. After the money is paid over they send a 
lot of armed men down there and require all the inhab¬ 
itants of the city to stand up in line and be shot down. 
Just think, now—25,000 men, women and children, 
giving up their lives! What would you think about it? 
If you are a voter, what would you do about it? If you 
are a man, with a heart, what would you do about it?" 
What would the great majority of men in this country 
do about it? Unless the writer is badly mistaken, in 
regard to the make-up of the average man, we will tell 
you what would happen—and that right quick. Word 
would be wired to Washington that the slaughter had 
to be stopped, and this word would come from, every 


146 




WIDOWS AND ORPHANS OF DRUNKARDS. 

“ Come unto Me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, 
and I will give you rest.” 






















































































































































































































































Fallacies of Our National Government. 


city, town, village and rural district, from one end of 
this country to the other, and if it did not cease, at 
once, we would be thrown into one of the worst civil 
wars in the annals of history. The last civil war would 
pale into insignificance. 

Why then, Mr. Voter, do you stand for the same 
element to murder four times that many, by pouring 
their poison down their throats? The first mentioned 
process is more humane. We had rather be shot dead 
with a rifle ball than to be poisoned by a slow process, 
wouldn’t you ? You say yes ? Then why give your con¬ 
sent to the other poor fellows being poisoned ? 

Poor old China has been ridiculed for centuries for 
different inconsistencies, but in one way it has put our 
boasted America to shame. Every reading man, 
wom,an and child, knows of the Chinese opium fiends. 
Some have seen the opium dens imitated on the Amer¬ 
ican stage. The opium traffic of China has been a 
greater detriment to that country than the liquor busi¬ 
ness has to ours, from the fact that almost the whole 
nation was drunk on or crazed with it. The latest news 
from that heathen land is, that it has been banished 
from four-fifths of the country, and it is only a ques¬ 
tion of a short time until it will be completely extir¬ 
pated. Shame on America, our boasted Christian 
land, that we allow a heathen country to surpass us in 
a great reform movement. 

So far as our government is concerned, we are no 
more Christian than China, and if it were not for the 
millions of Christian people in this land who have no 
hand or voice in its administration, we would deserve 
the same fate as befell Sodom and Gomorrah. 


147 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


There is a saying that one-half the people do 
not know how the other half live. We know there are 
millions of people in this country who have no idea of 
the enormity of the liquor traffic and of the great 
havoc it has wrought. That some of these might be 
enlightened through the pages of this book, we are go¬ 
ing to give part of a notable address by one of Amer¬ 
ica's famous men, Honorable Richmond P. Hobson, 
which was delivered before the National W. C. T. U. 
convention, Baltimore, Md., and which is as follows:— 

“If you take one glass of beer your efficiency will 
be lowered eight per cent. If you take three glasses of 
beer or its equivalent a day, at the end of twelve days 
your general efficiency will have been lowered from 
twenty-five to forty per cent, varying according to the 
kind of work you are doing. 

‘That will give you a true measure of the effect of 
this poison upon the nation's productiveness. There 
are fifty per cent, of all of our people who drink on 
occasion. They must certainly lose, conservatively es¬ 
timated, at least ten per cent, of their efficiency. 

That means a lowering of five per cent in the pro¬ 
ductiveness of our nation. 

Then for the five per cent who are heavy drinkers 
or drunkards we must assume they lose eighty per cent, 
which means a loss of four per cent in the nations pro¬ 
ductiveness. The sum total makes at least twenty- 
one and one-half per cent loss. 

That means that last year the nation was short 
in its productiveness, through the use of alcohol, over 
$7,000,000,000. Add to this the amount of the drink 
bill last year, and the money expended for institu- 


148 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


tions for the insane, the poor, etc., and for the sup¬ 
port of courts m*ade necessary by liquor. 

What do you suppose the total revenue collected 
last year from the liquor traffic was ? Less than $500,- 
000,000. Yet you will find communities under the as¬ 
tounding fallacy that the liquor traffic is good for the 
business of the community and as an argument they 
will cite the revenue received. 

For every dollar of revenue, you impose five dol¬ 
lars of taxation for the crime, pauperism* and insanity 
produced, and that amounts to over two billions of dol¬ 
lars. The total amount expended for and because of 
liquor is $16,000,000,000. 

There is, therefore, forty dollars of economic loss 
for every dollar of revenue. 

When this nation expends $1,000,000,000 a year 
for appropriations, we cry out in dismay. What shall 
we say of a tyrant that has no congress, but who has 
a very large share in our Congress. 

What shall we say of a tyrant that sits upon a 
throne and imposes a burden of sixteen and one- half 
billions for the purpose of destruction and degeneracy ? 

If some invader came to this land, and took away 
from any inhabitant the products of his farm, this 
country, if need be, would go to arms. Here we have 
a destroyer who comes down upon us every year, and 
takes away from our people, more than all the products 
of all the farms, forests, m*ines and fisheries combined, 
as though it took away from the nation, mother earth, 

Would you not say that it was not only the right 
but the duty of the state, to put an end to any such 
tyranny ? 


149 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


I look upon your organization as the greatest, 
most compact and most effective secular organization 
in the world, engaged in the greatest movement in 
the world. 

My subject to-night is “The Great Destroyer. ” 
If you examine life as it develops, no matter in what 
form, whether in plant, in animal or in man, you will 
find destroying agencies. There are degrees of de¬ 
structiveness among these agencies. Tonight I shall 
endeavor to establish the relative destructiveness of 
the great destructive agent which is the subject of 
your efforts and your thoughts. I have sought to find 
a measure, a standard, by which to determine destruet- 
ness, and since human life is the most precious thing in 
this part of the universe, I have sought to find out if 
war could be made a standard of the measure of des¬ 
tructiveness and I found fortunately, that it was pos¬ 
sible actually to evaluate the destructiveness of war. 

It was through our government, through the war 
college at Washington, that I secured the facts as to 
the destructiveness of war. Officers working under the 
War Department, took all the wars of the world from 
the Russo-Japanese, the latest, to as far back as the 
year 500 B. C. and they tabulated all the authentic 
reports of the killed and wounded, a little over one- 
fourth killed and a little less than three-fourths wound¬ 
ed; and that means about 700,000 killed in battle, and 
about 2,100,000 wounded sufficiently to be reported as 
mangled and wounded. 

Large Number Killed and Wounded by Alcohol. 

I then sought to find out the number of killed 
and wounded that are to be laid at the doors of alcohol. 


150 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


In this case the British Government supplied the stand¬ 
ard. In a report of the Register General of England, 
it is stated and is verified by other authorities that out 
of every 61,000 of the population, there will be about 
1,000 deaths every year, but out of the same number 
of total abstainers, there will be only 560 deaths. 
Therefore, 440 deaths out of every 1,000 deaths that 
occur, could be laid directly at the doors of alcoholic 
poison. 

To apply that to our own country: 440 deaths 
out of every 61,000 of our population every year, 
means 720,000 deaths in our land every year. Seven 
hundred and twenty thousand men are killed 
in America alone every year, and but 700,000 men 
have been killed in battle in all the wars of all the world 
for 2,300 years. That gives us an accurate, scientific, 
mathematical measure. 

If we apply the same proportion to America, it 
amounts to 3,600,000 white men killed every year by 
alcoholic poisoning, which is more than five times as 
many men killed every year by alcoholic poisoning, 
as have been killed by war in 2,300 years. That means 
that alcohol is 11,500 times as destructive as all wars. 

Again as to the wounded, we have the authority 
of the British Government, compiled by the great life 
insurance companies in the following statement: “If 
a young m^n at the age of twenty is a total abstainer, 
and remains a total abstainer, his prospect of life is, 
and will be forty-four years. He will live, on the aver¬ 
age, to the age of sixty-four. If on the other hand, he 
is a temperate, regular drinker of alcholic beverages, 
his prospect of life is and will be only thirty-one years, 


151 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


and he will die at the age on the average, of fifty-one, 
having lost thirteen years out of his life. 

If he is a heavy drinker, his prospect of life is and 
will be fifteen years. He will spend twelve years be¬ 
coming a confirmed drunkard and then will live for 
three years longer and die at the age of thirty-five, 
having lost twenty-nine years out of his life. If a 
soldier was wounded in battle and lost as much as ten 
years out of his life, he would be considered seriously 
wounded. 

It is further conservatively estimated that about 
twenty-five per cent of all the people in the United 
States drink alcoholic beverages in some form. This 
means that there are from 23,000,000 to 24,000,000 
temperate regular drinkers. All of these have cut out, 
on the average, thirteen years of their lives. They 
are more than seriously wounded. 

Add to this the number of the confirmed drinkers 
—4,000,000, and we have a grand total of 27,000,000 
to 28,000,000 Americans that are seriously and more 
than seriously wounded, and there have only been 
2,100,000 of men, seriously wounded enough to be re¬ 
ported in all the wars of all the world since the dawn of 
history. 

Applying the same ratio to the rest of the na¬ 
tions of the white race, we find that to-day there are 
more than 120,000,000 of white men seriously wounded. 
Estimating that within less than twenty years they 
will have given place to 120,000,000 more, we have the 
appalling figures that there are more than 600,000,000 
of white men, seriously wounded by this poison every 
century; and there have been only 2,100,000 wounded 


152 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


in all the wars of the past twenty-three centuries. 

By that ratio, in the matter of wounding, the 
liquor poison is 6,900 times as destructive as war, and 
11,500 times as destructive in the matter of killing. 
In other words, in mathematical statement, alcoholic 
poison is, roughly speaking, 10,000 times as destructive 
as all war. * * * 

In the face of these startling facts by such good 
authority as the Honorable Hobson the two old 
“whiskey soaked” political parties have the audacity 
to try to make the people of this counrty believe that 
we cannot get along without the revenue derived from 
this death reaping, society destroying, body wrecking 
and soul damning traffic. This false theory has been 
exploded, thousands and thousands of times, and the 
people are fast waking up to what a drain it is on the 
whole country. The worst feature of it all is, that so 
many people have voted for the two political parties 
that uphold it. 

We think war is such a terrible thing, and so it is, 
but just pause for a moment and think of nearly three 
quarters of a million people going to their graves every 
year in this country as a result of drink. More people 
than have been slain in all the wars for over two thous¬ 
and years. Horrible, did you say? Why, horrible is 
a tame expression. 

The writer cannot understand why any sensible 
man, or set of men, will stand for such a carnage of 
human beings. It is beyond his comprehension from 
any view point he can conceive. Religion should not be 
necessary to cause any man to get his eyes open after 


153 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


reading facts and figures herewith given, and to show 
how amazingly horrible the thing is. 

Suppose you should stand sufficiently long on a 
street corner, to see seven hundred thousand men 
march by and every one of them intoxicated, and each 
carrying a banner that read something like this—“We 
are on our way to the graveyard and hell as a result of 
your vote.” Would you be impressed? Would you feel 
like going to the polls next November to vote for a 
party that would uphold a traffic that would send seven 
hundred thousand more men to the same destination 
the next year, and the next, and next? Four more 
years of either Republican or Democratic administra¬ 
tion would mean the enormous or appalling number of 
two million eight hundred thousand more sent to hell, 
and with your consent. 

If you believe in the hereafter and a judgment 
day, how do you think you will feel, trying to explain 
why you voted to send so many men's souls to tor¬ 
ment? Yes, how will you feel? You surely do not 
think that you can give a plausible excuse for taking 
part in such a thing, do you ? Why, even according to 
the imperfect laws of this country, any person who 
knows that a crime is going to be committed and does 
not make it known, is amenable to the law from the 
fact that he is accessory to the fact. If this is imper¬ 
fect earthly law, what about the perfect law of heaven ? 

My dear friend, whoever you are, if you have been 
voting to sustain this evil, it surely is time that you 
are waking up to your responsibility. 

The writer has mentioned the slavery of the col¬ 
ored people in the South and elsewhere, but the sale 


154 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


of white girls and women in this country is far beyond 
the knowledge of the great majority of people. Very 
few have the remotest idea of its enormity. A woman 
reform worker in Chicago says that over five thousand 
girls and women in that city become white slaves every 
year, and liquor is back of ninety-five per cent of it. 
It is simply horrible to think of, and that such condi¬ 
tions can obtain in a supposed enlightened country. 
Rev. Ernest A. Bell, superintendent of the Midnight 
Mission, Chicago, says “if on coming home from mis¬ 
sionary service in India, some years ago, I had reported 
the existence in heathendom of a market for girls, 
such as Chicago and New York maintain, I would have 
horrified the churches. There is abounding vice in 
India and China, but its promotion is not a pet depart¬ 
ment of government as it is in our wicked American 
cities. Our criminal officials and all who encourage 
their crimes invite upon our cities the doom of Sodom 
and Gomorrah. Things cannot go on as they are going, 
except to NATIONAL DAMNATION. Commerce in 
girls cannot exist in a civilized society; we are not civ¬ 
ilized while it lasts. Politicians who protect this in¬ 
fernal trade deserve to be made cell-mates in the 
penitentiary with the traders. By the light of medical 
science we now know that one-fourth of blindness, one- 
fourth of surgical operations on women, (mostly inno¬ 
cent wives), one-fourth of the insanity and three- 
fourths of locomotor ataxia are due to the vice diseases. 
Not only do the pest-houses murder girls by inches; 
they blast the men and their present or future wives 
and children. In the light of truth, as all up-to-date 
physicians now know it, we might as well segregate 


155 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


and regulate cannibals as to permit men and wom,en 
who make commerce of girls and exploit young men to 
their destruction to go on with their most damnable 
crimes.” 

The social evil and the so called “white slave 
traffic” are awakening international attention, because 
of their rapid spread in every land during the past few 
years. All study and investigation of the problem show 
that the future of the race itself, as well as the perma¬ 
nence of civilization, is menaced by this gigantic evil. 

The leaders in this world battle assert that liquor 
is the chief bait and instrument used by the scoundrels 
who carry on the traffic in every great city of the globe, 
and that it could not exist were the liquor traffic de¬ 
legated and extirpated by legislation and public opin¬ 
ion. Realizing the danger, the liquor traffic, through 
its press bureaus, is everywhere attempting to disclaim 
connection or alliance with the “red light district” of 
every great city. A discussion of this question sent 
broadcast throughout the country by the brewers of 
the East, declares“The saloon is not the cause of pros¬ 
titution and the girls who enter the hell of harlotry 
do not in one case out of a thousand enter by way of 
the saloon or by the use of intoxicants.” 

In view of the nation wide circulation of this and 
similar documents, the associated Prohibition Press 
wrote the best known and most successful workers in 
the crusade against the social evil, whose long and 
practical experience would give their testimony au¬ 
thoritative value. The replies are startling in their 
indictment of the saloon and the liquor traffic as the 
breeder and fosterer of immorality and the “White 


156 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 

Slave Trade.” 

Ophelia L. Amigh, Superintendent of the State 
Training School for Girls, Geneva, Ill., writes: 

“Out of 1,376 received since the opening of this 
institution, and out of about 440 at present in the 
school, I might almost say that nearly every girl sent 
to us has gone wrong, because of drinking, either 
through the inheritance from her parents, or from the 
influence of the saloon on the girl herself. I have never 
found the social evil or its victim separate and apart 
from the saloon, or from drink, except in the case of 
some feeble-minded girls, and they were made so by 
having either a drunken father or a drunken mother, 
or both. I am often called upon to speak about my 
work, among the girls here, and I never fail to impress 
this phase of it, “that the saloon is the main factor in 
filling this and other institutions of its kind.” 

Mrs. J. K. Barney, world's Superintendent of 
Penal, Charitable and Reformatory Work, (W. C. T. 
U.) wrote from Providence, R. I.: “My experience of 
the past thirty-five years, while engaged in rescue and 
reform work in the prisons, jails and police stations of 
this and other countries, is, that whenever you touch 
this open sore of our civilization, you touch the liquor 
traffic. Accompanied by my officers, I have spent mid¬ 
night hours upon the streets of large cities, searching 
for lost girls and worsen and have never touched hands 
with one, young or old, that I did not get the odor of 
liquor. To my questions concerning it, I have always 
had answer with this meaning, “We could not live 
without it; we began this life with it, and we shall have 
to keep on.” 


157 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


Mrs. Frances Joseph-Gaudet, founder and Presi¬ 
dent of the colored Industrial Home and School, (Inc.) 
New Orleans, La., writes: “Fully 90 per cent of the 
fallen girls in my state owe their condition to the drink 
habit and saloon. I have been engaged in prison work 
for fifteen years and have talked with hundreds of 
fallen girls who have lost their all, while under the 
influence of liquor.” 

J. J. Kelso, State Superintendent of work for 
neglected and dependent children for the province of 
Ontario, with 20 years' experience in this field, writes 
from Toronto: 

Without a doubt, intoxicating liquor is respon¬ 
sible for consigning to perdition more than one-half 
the women and girls who are found in brothels and res¬ 
cue homes. The men who have caused their down-fall 
have been under the influence and they have used it 
freely to break down resistance on the part of their vic¬ 
tims. Drink has been at the bottom of three-fourths 
of the horrible cases of incest that have come before 
me. Liquor is almost invariably associated with im¬ 
morality and has, from time immemorial, been used to 
kill the moral sensibility. Facts are so strong and so 
persistent, that no true worker for humanity can fail 
to recognize in alcohol, the deadly enemy of all that 
makes for success and happiness in life.” 

Wiley J. Phillips, Chairman of the National Com¬ 
mittee on the White Slave Traffic, Chairman of the 
Pacific Coast Purity Association, Member of the Board 
of Directors of the Board of Hope, Los Angeles, and of 
the Helping Hand Association, of Cincinnati, Ohio, and 
Editor of the California Voice, writes: 


158 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


“As a result of 30 years of investigation and study 
of this question, I am sure that 85 per, cent of “felled 
girls” find the open door to ,ruin in the social dance, 
where wines are sold; the dance halls, where liquors 
are sold and the cafes and wine-rooms to which, after 
theatre, ball and dance, the young people resort. Every 
Saloon in Los Angeles has over it, in the rear of it, or 
very near it, places for fallen women. From 75 to 90 
per cent of the divorces are traceable to drink, in the 
estimate of Judges in this city. Judge Noyes, 40 years 
a practicing attorney, Superior Court Judge for 22 
years, (and not a Prohibitionist) just now declared to 
me “that 99 per cent of the divorces were directly or 
indirectly traceable to drink, and that 95 per cent of all 
cases coming before him, could be traced to drink in 
some way.” During the enforced Prohibition, in San 
Francisco, there was no “Barbary Coast” and no “Red 
Light District.” On the opening of saloons the “Coast” 
sprang again into existence, and every house east of 
Dumont street was either a saloon or a bawdy house, 
or both.” 

Mrs. Rose Woodallen Chapman, National Superin¬ 
tendent Department of Social Purity, (W. C. T. U.) 
writes: 

“Advocates of the liquor business would have us 
believe that there is no relation between the moral 
downfall of young women—yes, and of men, of our land 
and the use of alcoholic liquors. They admit that fallen 
women drink, but maintain that the drinking habit was 
formed after their fall, and not before. Those who 
have worked with the fallen women testify that a 
larger proportion of women enter a life of evil through 


159 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


the influence of alcohol, than through any other one 
cause. The percentage chould be placed as high as 90.” 

Says Doctor Prince A. Morrow, one of the most 
eminent physicians in New York city, and President of 
the American Society of Moral and Sanitary Prophy¬ 
laxis : 

“A large proportion of m,en and a still larger pro¬ 
portion of women, owe their initial debauch to the in¬ 
fluence of alcohol. Perhaps more than any other 
agency, alcohol relaxes the moral sense, while it stim¬ 
ulates the sexual impulse.” 

“The greatest danger of all to the control of the 
sexual impulse is drinking. Mr. Forel proved the great 
importance of liquor as predisposing to sexual indul¬ 
gence by collecting statistics in France which show 
that no less than 76 per cent of all venereal infections 
occur under the influence of alcohol.” 

Doctor Winfield S. Hall, Professor of physiology 
in the Northwestern University Medical School, Chi¬ 
cago, says: 

“It is under the influence of alcohol that the young 
man is almost sure to make his first visit to the house 
of prostitution. If the girl loses her virtue, it takes 
place, in the majority of cases, when she is under the 
influence of alcohol.” 

Mrs. Mary J. Aunable, since 1893 State Superin¬ 
tendent of Rescue Work for Girls, (New York W. C. T. 
U.) writes: 

“Through this department 3,819 girls hve been res¬ 
cued in the past 16 years. In 1907 I personally worked 
with 542 fallen girls and 510 of these confessed their 


160 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


ruined virtue was from drink. Drink is responsible, in 
my opinion, for the social evil.” 

Startling revelations made regarding the alliance 
of politicians, the liquor traffic and organized vice have 
developed in New York and Chicago during 1909 where 
it has been shown by official investigation that the 
dominant party, in each of these two great cities of 
America, is hand in glove with the capitalists of vice. 
The white slave traffic flourishes in Chicago under a 
Republican mayor, “elected by the best elements of the 
party,” a Republican prosecutor and a Republican Gov¬ 
ernor. Sworn testimony shows that hundreds of 
thousands of dollars of graft are reaped from this pro¬ 
tected pestilence. The* system in New York is even 
more deep seated and its terrific exposure in recent 
issues of McClure's magazine and the New York Even¬ 
ing Post, is a damning indictment of the Democratic 
bosses in power. 

The writer has quoted from the highest and very 
best authority as to the part played by the liquor traffic 
in the white slave traffic. What man is it who can read 
such horrible facts and convincing truth without hav¬ 
ing his blood boil and his nerves tremble ? 

Harriet Beecher Stowe gives a graphic description 
of the heartrending scenes that took place when the 
poor colored slave families were separated—the mother 
going to one slave owner—the father to another and 
the children to another. They were sold to work, but 
what are the “White Slaves” sold for? They are sold 
and bought for the most debasing purpose under God's 
blue sky. They are sold by the thousands in a country 
that boasts of being a Christian Nation (?) In a coun- 


161 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


try that boasts of spending ten millions of dollars a 
year to enlighten the heathen in foreign lands!! Is 
this hypocrisy? If not, pray, what do you call it? 
What about the beam in our own eyes? Don’t you 
think we had better right our own house before we 
become too much concerned about a people that can 
put us to shame in more ways than one? Have they 
not done it? Why, even poor old heathen China has 
done it. 

You say, Oh, there are only a few white slaves in 
this country. Only a few! When Chicago alone fur¬ 
nishes over five thousand a year. What about New 
York, Philadelphia, Saint Louis, Boston, Baltimore, 
Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Cincinnati, San Francisco, New 
Orleans, Louisville and a number of other cities ? The 
aggregate is no less than 25,000 white slaves a year, 
with the liquor traffic responsible for fully ninety per 
cent of them. Horrible, did you say? Are you voting 
for it ? If you are voting for either of the old parties 
you are undoubtedly giving it your endorsement. And 
do you honestly and candidly think you can continue to 
approve of it with your ballot and escape responsibility ? 

Suppose a beautiful girl out of your neighbor’s 
family should fall a victim to it, would you be con¬ 
cerned ? And if this question is not direct enough, what 
action would you take against the heinous traffic if 
your own lovely daughter should be dragged into the 
net? That is quite a different proposition, isn’t it? 
Well, why not take just enough interest in other men’s 
daughters to cast your ballot at the next presidential 
election against it? 

Whether you are a church member or no, the 


162 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


author cannot see how you consider yourself a man of 
good principle and sustain with your vote such a hell¬ 
ish crime as the white slave traffic, nor how you can 
look at the countenance of dear mother, wife or sister 
without feeling that you are not giving them all the 
safe-guards that your strongest affection would war¬ 
rant. There is none so high that she may not be 
dragged down. Eternal vigilance against vice in all its 
forms is the price of safety. 


163 










Fallacies of Our National Government. 


CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE GREAT OCEAN-LINER, TITANIC, SINKS. 

On Monday, April 15th, 1912, word was flashed 
over the great Atlantic ocean by wireless message, 
that the mammoth White Star liner, Titanic, bound 
from Liverpool to New York, on her maiden voyage, 
went to the bottom of the Atlantic ocean off the New¬ 
foundland Banks, and that part of the passengers had 
been saved by the steamer Carpathia. As this word 
was flashed to different parts of the world of the great¬ 
est sea disaster ever known, people gathered by the 
thousands at the bulletin boards throughout New York 
city, watching eagerly for news from the bleak seas. 
Telephone and telegraph wires were clogged with anx¬ 
ious qustions from those who had loved ones aboard. 
Women fainted as they waited for news and the crowds 
in some instances became hysterical. 

The offices of the White Star Line in Bowling 
Green were beseiged by armies of relatives and friends 
of the passengers on the ill-fated liner. Many men and 
women remained there for several days—refusing to go 
home for either food or rest. 

Vincent Astor was in a hysterical condition and 
offered any amount of money for any news regarding 
his father. But he could get no more information than 
the humblest soul craving news of his immigrant 
friend in the great boat's steerage. 

All the chairs in the offices of the steamship line 
were filled with worn-out men and women who would 
not give up hope for good news. 


165 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


Mrs. Benjamin Guggenheim, wife of the smelter 
millionaire, became hysterical and created a scene 
when informed her husband's name had not yet ap¬ 
peared on the list of the survivors. She entered the 
offices with her brother-in-law, Daniel Guggenheim, 
who went to the counter to inquire of the clerk who 
had the list. When the clerk shook his head, Mrs. Gug¬ 
genheim uttered a shriek that could be heard out on 
the street. 

“You must do something," she cried. “It is a crime 
—a shame. The Virginia should have done some¬ 
thing; and where is the Olympic? Oh, my” God, it is 
awful. Why weren't there life-boats enough?" 

Tears were pouring down her cheeks and her 
bosom shook with sobs. 

A pale little man, who had bitten his lips so that 
the blood ran down his chin, struggled through the 
throng to ask about the fate of his brother who was on 
his honeymoon with his bride. They had boarded the 
ship with another newly-wedded pair. Both were near 
the end of their honeymoon, coming home on the ill- 
fated vessel. 

As the clerk swept his eyes down the list he saw 
the names of the two women and one man. The name 
of one of the men was missing. At this news the pale 
little man lifted his arms above his head, uttered a 
sharp cry and hurried into the street. 

Pushing through the crowd on Broadway, a woman 
struggled to reach the steps of the office of the White 
Star. A newsboy waved a paper at her. “Fifteen 
hundred," he cried; “Fifteen hundred de-” 


166 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


The woman wavered and tottered and would have 
fallen, but somebody in the crowd caught her. They 
helped her up the steps and placed her in a chair. A 
list of the rescued was placed in her hands. The name 
of her husband did not appear. She stared, dry-eyes, 
and said “Gone.” 

Another woman with a child ran up to a clerk be¬ 
hind the counter. “Are you sure W. B. Carter, his wife 
and child are safe ? she cried, and there was anguish in 
her voice. 

The clerk tried to reassure her, but she questioned 
over again, “Are you sure ?” Finally she turned away 
with tears coursing down her cheeks. The clerk shook 
his head. 

“This is the twelfth time she has been here in an 
hour,” he said. 

Upon the second floor, in the offices of Vice Pres¬ 
ident Franklin, half a dozen gray-haired directors sat. 
Two of them stared out of the windows with listless 
eyes, while another tore a wireless dispatch into small 
bits. When addressed, not one of them looked up or 
around. 

Over on the right sand side of the building, in the 
second cabin offices, men and women of a poorer class, 
equal sufferers with the richest of the rich, held gloomy 
gatherings of sympathy. Bars of convention were torn 
down and the stroke that sank the Titanic and carried 
grief to a thousand homes united all in common bonds 
of sympathy. 

“I had two boys,” a gray-bearded man said. “They 
had gone on a visit to their mother.” 


167 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


A young girl wept hysterically. “Oh, Mother, 
Mother, please come back to me,” she begged pitiably. 

An older woman who had a husband on the Titanic 
unaccounted for, led her to a bench and strove to com¬ 
fort her, though her own grief welled tearfully in her 
own sad eyes. 

Word cam,e through the wireless instrument 
Wednesday from the rescue ship that all of the sur¬ 
vivors of the Titanic were aboard that vessel, but hun¬ 
dreds continued to hope against hope and refused to 
believe the worst as the figures sent in were conflicting. 

The Carpathia reached New York about 9 o’clock 
Thursday night. Hundreds of grief-stricken relatives 
and friends were at the piers to receive their loved 
ones, if aboard, or news of them if they sank with the 
Titanic. The survivors were hurried to hom,es, hotels 
or hospitals, many of them being in a serious or dan¬ 
gerous condition from exposure and terror. Heart¬ 
rending scenes were witnessed as the survivors were 
received from the Carpathia. Many described the 
great disaster. 

Of 2,340 persons on the Titanic, 745 were rescued, 
but one expired in a lifeboat and six died on the rescue 
ship, making total fatalities 1,601. 

Hundreds of survivors, huddled in the darkness at 
a safe distance from the ship, saw her go down. They 
gave harrowing details of how they saw the great hulk 
of the Titanic stand on end, stern uppermost, for many 
minutes before plunging to the bottom. All confirmed 
the report that the great liner had struck an iceberg. 
Some said she was ripped from stem to engine room by 
the great m*ass of ice she struck midships, and was laid 


168 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


open as if by a gigantic can opener. 

She quickly listed to starboard and a shower of 
ice fell on to the forecastle deck. Shortly before she 
sank she broke in two abaft the engine room, and as 
she disappeared beneath the water the expulsion of air 
caused two explosions, which were plainly heard by the 
survivors adrift. 

A moment more and she had gone to her doom 
with the fated hundreds grouped on the after deck. 
To the survivors they were visible to the last, and their 
cries and moans were pitiable. 

When the Titanic struck the huge iceberg some 
were playing cards while others were at the bar drink¬ 
ing and hooted at the idea of such a great, strong ves¬ 
sel sinking. It was not long before they heard the 
shout “all passengers on deck with life belts on.” 
There was a total absence of any panic or any expres¬ 
sion for alarm, which was partly accounted for by the 
calm night and the absence of any sign of the accident. 
The ship was absolutely still, and except for a gentle 
tilt downward, no one would have noticed signs of the 
approaching disaster. She lay just as if she were wait¬ 
ing the order to proceed after some trifling matter had 
been adjusted. But in a few moments the covers were 
lifted from the life-boats and their crews allotted to 
them, s They began curling up the ropes by which they 
were to be lowered into the water. When they began 
to realize it was more serious than they had supposed 
different ones returned to their staterooms to get more 
clothing, their money and jewelry. The men were or¬ 
dered to stand back and let the women and children in. 
The men walked away and stood in silence. The women 


169 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


got into the boats quietly, except some who refused to 
leave their husbands. In some cases the women were 
torn from their husbands and pushed into the boats, 
but in many instances they were allowed to remain 
with their husbands because there was no one to insist 
upon their going. 

It was a beautiful starlight night, with no moon 
to make it very light. The sea was as calm as a pond. 
An ideal night except for the bitter cold. If ever a 
calm night were needed and welcome on the great briny 
deep it was that night with hundreds of helpless women 
and children afloat in small boats hundreds of miles 
from land. One man said he had been at sea 26 years 
and had never before seen such a calm night on the 
Atlantic. As they rode away from the Titanic they 
looked back from time to time to watch her and some 
said they never saw a more striking spectacle. In the 
distance she looked an enormous length, with her 
great bulk outlined in black against the starry sky, 
every porthole and saloon blazing with light. It was 
impossible to think anything could be wrong with such 
a leviathan. About 2 o’clock she began settling very 
rapidly, with the bow and bridge completely under 
water and those who had escaped in the life-boats 
knew it was only a question of a few minutes until she 
would be out of sight. The lights in the cabins and 
saloons flickered for a moment and then went out and 
at the same time the machinery roared down through 
the vessel with a rattle and a groaning like a great 
giant giving up the ghost. It could be heard for miles 
and was a weird sound to be heard in the middle of the 
great ocean a thousand m*iles from land. It was not 


170 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


yet the end, for to the amazement of those who 
watched she remained in an upright position fully five 
minutes and about 150 feet of her towered above the 
level of the sea and loomed black against the sky. Then 
with a quiet, slanting dive, she disappeared beneath 
the mighty waters and their eyes looked for the last 
time on the gigantic vessel on which they had taken 
passage the Wednesday before feeling as secure as if 
they had been on land. There was left to them the 
gentle heaving sea—the boats filled with men and 
women in every conceivable condition of dress and un¬ 
dress. The sky was perfect. The stars shone brilliant¬ 
ly and the bitter cold made each one desire to get at 
the oars to keep themselves warm. 

There fell on their ears frantic, despairing cries 
of those who had been left on the great ship to go down 
with her. It was the most appalling noise that human 
beings ever listened to. The cries were heard of hun¬ 
dreds of their fellows struggling in the icy cold water, 
crying for help with a cry that they knew could not be 
answered as it meant certain death to those in the 
boats if they had gone to their rescue. The men sang 
to keep the women from hearing the cries, and rowed 
hard to get away from the scene of the wreck, but the 
memory of those heartrending sounds will be one of 
the things that will be difficult to efface from the mem¬ 
ory of the rescued. 

As they rowed from the horrible scene and agon¬ 
izing sounds they discovered a light, low down on the 
horizon, which slowly resolved itself into a double light. 
As they eagerly watched to see if the two lights would 
separate, and prove to be only two of their boats, or 


171 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


whether they would remain together, in which case 
they would expect them to be the masthead light and 
a deck light below of a rescuing steamer. 

To their great joy, they moved as one and round 
they swung, the boat headed for her. The steersman 
shouted, “Now, boys, sing,” and for the first time those 
in this particular boat broke into song with “Row for 
the shore, boys,” and for the first time tears came to 
their eyes as they realized that safety was at hand. 

The rescue ship showed up rapidly, and as she 
swung round they saw her cabins all alight and knew 
that she must be a large steamer. She was motionless 
and they had to row to her. Just then a beautiful, 
bright day dawned with pink clouds just above the 
horizon and a new m«oon whose crescent just touched 
the horizon. “Turn your money over, boys,” said their 
cheery steersman, “that is, if you have any,” he added. 
They laughed at him for his superstition at such a 
time, but he countered very neatly by adding “Well, 
I shall never say again that 13 is an unlucky number— 
boat 13 has been the best friend we ever had.” Cer¬ 
tainly the 13 superstition was forever killed in the 
minds of those who escaped from the Titanic in boat 
13. As they came near the Carpathia they saw in the 
dawning light what they thought was a full rigged 
schooner standing up near her, and presently behind 
her another, all sails set, and they said: They are fisher 
boats from Newfoundland bank and have seen the 
steamer lying to and are standing by to help. But in 
another five minutes the light showed pink on them 
and they saw they were icebergs, towering many feet 
in the air—huge glistening masses, deadly white, still, 


172 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


and peaked in a way that suggested a schooner. As 
they glanced around the horizon they saw others 
wherever the eye could reach, and the steamer they 
had to reach was surrounded with them and they had 
to make a detour to reach her, for between her and the 
boats lay another huge iceberg. They rowed up to the 
boat and were hoisted up the ship's sides with very 
grateful hearts. 

* Hi * sfc * 

Naturally to be expected, from the numerous in¬ 
vestigations carried on by the United States govern¬ 
ment within the past five years, the Senate began an 
investigation to determine who was to blame and they 
might well have begun in their own body as we will 
show later. 

Managing Director Ismay acknowledged that the 
Titanic had maintained a reckless speed even after 
having been warned by another vessel to be on the 
lookout for icebergs, which was due to a desire to es¬ 
tablish a record for speed and pile up dividends for the 
stockholders by saving time. 

The investigation brought out the fact that a lack 
of spy-glasses for look-out in the Titanic's crow nest 
was largely responsible for the accident. If the steam¬ 
er had been making only ten or twelve miles an hour in 
the face of such danger no doubt she would have been 
afloat to-day and all the lives that were needlessly 
sacrificed would have been saved. In addition to a 
sufficient number of life-boats to accommodate all pas¬ 
sengers and crew, every vessel should be equipped with 
powerful searchlights. 


173 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


About 25 years ago the writer was on a small pas¬ 
senger steamer on the Saint Francis river at night when 
he noticed a great stream of light flash over the 
heavens some distance away. He was at a loss to un¬ 
derstand it and went to the captain and asked if he 
could explain. He said “yes, that is a searchlight on 
a Mississippi River steamer that is at least 20 mjles 
away across the country.” The light was as bright as 
the tail of a large comet. Now, if a steamer on the 
Mississippi river could have a search-light twenty-five 
years ago that could be seen at such a distance, when 
thrown across the heavens, how far could a powerful 
electric search-light be seen at night from a steamer on 
the ocean? We dare say not less than 50 miles and 
possibly 100 miles. Suppose the Titanic had been 
equipped with such a light and search-light signals had 
been in vogue among all ocean steamers, which should 
have been the case, those several vessels that were 
within 50 miles of the Titanic that night w T ould have 
received the signal and could have rushed to her rescue 
and saved the 1600 that had to give up their lives be¬ 
cause of gross negligence of a ship company and two 
governments that are asleep at the switch and never 
waken except when something terrible happens and 
public clamor or indignation forces them. Yes, the 
British and United States governments are just as 
much to blame for the loss of those 1600 souls as Mr. 
Ismay or any one else connected with his company, for 
he and the others only took advantage of lax—yes, 
worse than lax laws—they are criminal, inasmuch as 
they do not even suggest—much less provide for—the 
safety of their people. 


174 















































































































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Even after such a terrible disaster, how many 
steamers running our rivers, plying our lakes and 
oceans to-day are properly equipped with life saving 
apparatus ? 

When will the people of the United States tire of 
the school-boy administration of their affairs? Must 
the old Republican and Democratic parties sink, or 
will the people hold on to them until they sink the 
nation ? 

The newspapers stated that the whole civilized 
world was shocked by this awful disaster, that official 
Washington was shocked and the President was 
touched. What kind of sympathy is it that is only 
aroused on special occasions and closes its eyes to 
things that are happening every day in this country 
that are really worse than the great Titanic disaster— 
bad as it was, and is not only happening with full 
knowledge of those in power, but with their consent. 
Yes, worse still, they are accepting tribute for the priv¬ 
ilege of having as many people destroyed, both body 
and soul, every day in the year, as went to watery 
graves from the Titanic. They are getting $480 apiece 
for them. Rather a small price for a human soul and 
body, isn't it ? A good horse costs more. But they do 
business on the “large sales and quick profits" plan, 
for when you can sell seven hundred thousand a year 
at $480 you have the enormous sum of $336,000,000. 
That would buy a good many Titanics, wouldn’t it? 
“They grieved over those lost off the Titanic." Would 
they have grieved if they could have received $480 
apiece for them? Cruel, you say? Of course it is 
cruel. Are you voting for it? What ticket are you 


175 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


voting? How long will the God of Heaven, who has 
destroyed other nations for their wickedness, stand for 
this, and have His Holy name blasphemed by calling 
this a Christian government, and have us insult Him 
by inscribing on our money that we trust in Him ? 

Let us take a lesson from “heathen China” which 
the whole civilized world has criticized for a good many 
years. She has been sleeping like a great giant. Drunk 
on opium. Little Japan “stuck a pin in her” and she 
rolled over and grunted. Russia pricked her, and she 
grunted again. She has done away with the opium 
habit in three-fourths of her vast domain and as a 
result she is sobering up, and has sufficiently recovered 
to overthrow an oppressive government and establish 
a form of government that has caused the whole world 
to sit up and take notice. She is just beginning, and 
before she completes the job she may shake the whole 
world. What is back of it? Christianity has aroused 
her from her lethargy. 

We predict great happenings in the United States 
within the next five years. 

We learn the following lessons from the Titanic 
disaster: 

Criminal indifference to or neglect of the best in¬ 
terests of the people of both the United States and 
British governments. 

Greed of steamship company for increased divi¬ 
dends. 

How weak and inefficient are the things made by 
man when compared with the things made by God, and 
formed by God’s nature and elements. The “unsink- 


176 




THE GRAVES OF TEN MILLION DRUNKARDS. 

Who is weeping over these—and who is providing for their widows and orphans 




















































































. 




































Fallacies of Our National Government. 


able ship” became as a pasteboard box, when it collided 
with God's big iceberg. 

That great wealth in time of peril will not pur¬ 
chase one minute of life. 

That millonaires and paupers are on one common 
level in great catastrophes. 

That when facing death “they” find it better to be 
on the “upper deck” singing “Nearer my God to Thee” 
than remaining below, in the saloon, playing cards and 
drinking wine, beer and whiskey. 

That at such times the millionaire would part with 
most, if not all his wealth, to have his life spared. 

When we think we are most secure, we are face to 
face with death. 

Some are born heroes—others are heroes when 
they are forced to be, and that heroism does not cover 
sin, nor buy salvation. 

The limitations of man. 


177 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


CHAPTER XIX. 

IT DEPENDS UPON WHOSE OX IS BEING GORED. 

The greatest evils never seem so great until they 
touch our individual lives, or some one who is near and 
dear to us. In these days, when our daily papers are 
full of all kinds of horrors, such as train wrecks, coal 
mine disasters, ship wrecks, murders, suicides and 
other dreadful catastrophes, we, as a rule, glance over 
them hurriedly, and in a short while we forget all about 
them—they have left our minds completely. If we see 
a man on the street, under the influence of liquor, most 
of us treat the matter lightly because it is a very com¬ 
mon occurrence. But suppose your father, uncle or 
brother were in that ship wreck, or railroad accident, 
or coal mine disaster, or had taken his life, or was 
drunk on the street, how would you regard it ? Oh! of 
course you would be very much concerned; well, why 
not think something about the other unfortunate 
people ? 

Imagine the President of the United States, a Con¬ 
gressman and a United States senator walking down 
the street together, and a very poorly clad woman, 
with three or four ragged children, should approach 
them and ask alms, and each of them should be “so 
touched” that they would go down into their trousers 
pockets and pull out a silver dollar and say “here, poor 
woman, take this, as an expression of our sympathy!” 
As she took the money, suppose she would recognize 
their positions in life and would plead with them to 
put a stop to the thing that was causing her poverty— 


179 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


that of having her husband filled with liquor each day 
for which he was spending practically all he could earn, 
and their answer should be in keeping with the policy 
of the party they represent, what would it be? “We 
are very sorry, poor woman, that in this respect, we 
cannot help you.” Can you doubt the answer we have 
given? Are they not answering adversely the plead¬ 
ings of numberless thousands of drunkards’ wives, 
widows and children every day by their criminal indif¬ 
ference ? 

The liquor dealers, whom our government up¬ 
holds, need thousands of young men and women every 
year as feeders to keep their infamous traffic alive. 
Now, for a few more direct questions. How would the 
President like to sacrifice his own son and daughter on 
the altar of the liquor dealers? He would say, “Oh, 
no! that would never do! Then, Mr. President, why do 
you sanction the sacrificing of the fair sons and daugh¬ 
ters of other men? Are they not just as precious to 
their parents as your son and daughter are to you? 

And what about you, Mr. Congressman, and you, 
Mr. Senator, who are fathers of boys and girls? How 
would you like to turn them over to this filthy element, 
for destruction of both body and soul, while you are 
refusing to raise either your hand or your voice 
against it? 

If you are men with hearts, millions of people in 
this country would like you to answer these questions 
as such, and not as beasts, for even the wild animals 
love their offspring, but care not for the offspring of 
other animals. Can you meet the question by rising 
above beasthood ? 


180 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


You are not willing to admit that you do not love 
the young men and women of our country, for if you 
did you know full well, that it would mean your political 
death. To acknowledge that you do care for them, 
and then uphold with your power and influence, as a 
servant of the people, this degrading liquor business 
stamps you as members of the very worst form of 
hypocrites. 

You have been dodging the issue for years, talking 
tariff, free trade, free silver, gold standard, reciprocity 
or anything but the liquor traffic, but the time has 
come for you to go on record, either as belonging to 
God's higher creation, or his lower. Which class are 
you going to choose? 


181 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


CHAPTER XX. 

THE FORGOTTEN MILLIONS. 

The three words that form the title of this chapter, 
were uttered by a prominent educator of this country, 
but, no doubt, they were voiced ages before he used 
them. 

We speak of the neglected millions in China, India 
and other countries, but what about the millions in 
this country, that are forgotten? Have any special 
laws been made for them ? No, the special laws in this 
country have been made for the purpose of enabling 
the rich to grow richer and the poor poorer. The rich 
are allowed to rob the poor of the little they have, 
by raising the price of food whenever it suits their 
fancy. Our government permits the rich to prey upon 
the poor, the same as vultures feed upon carrion. 
The rich beef baron, illustrating this point, on Sunday 
prays on his knees and on week days preys on his 
neighbors. For instance, in Pennsylvania the dealers 
in butterine have to pay a heavy tax to handle it, 
which necessarily increases the price to the consumer 
and helps the Butter Trust to keep the price of its 
product at a high figure. This works a hardship to the 
poorer classes, who cannot afford the product known as 
Elgin creamery? (which never sees Elgin, Ill.) The 
Beef Trust is allowed to charge exorbitant prices for 
its products, enabling the dealers in poultry to charge 
more than they should. If our government desires to 
do the right thing for the poor people of this country, 
it would take all the tax off the necessities of life and 
intake it up on things the rich buy. 


183 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


But what does the President of the United States, 
who lives in his magnificent quarters at Washington, 
with every luxury that money will purchase, and draw¬ 
ing $75,000 a year of the people's money, care about 
the poor forgotten millions ? And what care the well- 
to-do Congressman and Senator, (many of whom, buy 
their way to Washington,) about the necessities of 
the poor? 

When an honest, capable, but poor young man, like 
Abraham Lincoln was, can run for office and be elected, 
then the poor people of this country will come into their 
own and be able to get what is coming to them. Thank 
God the day is fast approaching when this will be so, 
and then that class of men who have bought their way 
to the halls of Congress and the Senate chamber will 
take a back seat, and Mr. Millionaire, who has furnish¬ 
ed money to send their hired representatives there, 
will also take a back seat. 

No wonder that socialism is growing at such a 
rapid rate. Just such things as we have mentioned 
are driving it like a ten ton weight drives a small 
piling into the ground, when it falls from a distance 
above and hits it squarely on the head, or a number 
of pounds of powder sends a cannon ball whizzing 
thru space. 

And it is not at all surprising that prominent 
ministers of the gospel in different parts of the country 
are becoming socialists (we mean Christian Socialists) 
witnessing the grinding of the poor into dust. 

Yes, better things are in store for those millions, 
who have been made to bow at the shrine of the men 
whose clothes have dollar marks all over them, and 


184 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


have been forced to “pay tribute to Caesar” when he 
was not entitled to it. 

When the day of the poor man comes, hundreds of 
thousands of dollars will not have to be spent to have 
a certain man nominated and then additional hundreds 
of thousands to have him elected. Such things will 
be considered a crime and disgrace, and should be 
so considered now by all right thinking people. 

If our government had not fostered the industries, 
which have since become monsters for opposing the 
people, such conditions as we have been experiencing 
for some years, would have been impossible. Seeing the 
evils, if our representatives in Congress had been made 
of the right kind of material, they would have made 
laws that would have long since sent the Wall Street 
gang to that other gang that has for its prefix, “Chain.” 
What good does it do to fine these money-grabbers and 
life-crushers? If they pay a fine, we have to foot 
the bill. 

Because those in authority have created these 
things, and are merely playing with remedies, as a 
child plays with building blocks, their day is coming 
just as rapidly as the day of the oppressors. Their 
houses will fall “and great will be the fall thereof,” 
and when this happens, instead of tears coursing down 
the cheeks of the millions shouts of victory will be 
heard throughout the land and “the forgetten millions” 
will have had their innings. 


185 




































































Fallacies of Our National Government. 


CHTPTER XXL 

SATAN APPEARS IN CONGRESS. 

One day, as the President was preparing his mes¬ 
sage for Congress, a deeply interested personage, 
Satan by name, stepping up, and laying his hand gen¬ 
tly on the President's shoulder said, Mr. President, 
you will pardon me for intruding and disturbing you 
at such an important point in your message, but I am 
so happy over the way things have been going here 
at one of my PRINCIPAL CAPITOLS, I feel that I 
cannot miss the opportunity to congratulate you and 
my friends of the CONGRESS and SENATE, for the 
great friendship you have always exhibited toward me, 
and how you and the “Grand Old Party” have abso¬ 
lutely refused to injure MY FRIENDS and MY BUS¬ 
INESS by taking up that absurd idea they call 
PROHIBITION. If you should ever do 
such a foolish thing it would NEARLY PUT ME 
OUT OF BUSINESS. I know you would not go back 
on me in that way for both you and Congress have 
proven yourselves too good FRIENDS for that. And 
Mr. President, there is another way you could strike 
me a terrible BLOW, and that would be to stop the cre¬ 
ation of thousands of subjects YOU have been sending 
me each year, thru the SALOON COURSE. And say, 
Mr. President, I want to call your attention to that 
tall, fine looking fellow, so universally known. Well, 
he, until last year, was a member of Congress, but 
through the manipulation of a very honorable (?) 
member of the Senate, and a PARTICULAR FRIEND 
OF MINE, was transferred to Harrisburg. Of course 


187 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


you know where that is? That is the place where 
so m#ny of my Boys got that “BIG RAKEOFF.” I 
tell you, that was fine work, and I have already re¬ 
warded most of them. Well, before he became gov¬ 
ernor, he did me a very special favor, by giving lic¬ 
ense to JUST FORTY OF MY BOYS IN ONE DAY. 
While that was just SPLENDID WORK, it is not ALL 
he has done for n\e, Mr. President, for since 
he became GOVERNOR, he FAVORED ME by 
signing a Ripper Bill that disfranchised the voters of 
Pittsburgh and Scranton, which was done to throw 
hundreds of office holders out of positions. And last, 
but by no m,eans least, he signed a bill to injure the 
KEYSTONE AND PROHIBITION PARTIES at the 
polls, and that also, was a fine piece of work. Well, 
it was about the best John ever did for me, because 
I HATE THOSE FELLOWS for THEY GIVE ME 
A BLACK EYE AT EVERY OPPORTUNITY. John 
has made a big mistake however, since he became 
GOVERNOR, and that was when he appointed such a 
fine lot of men for Council in Pittsburgh. You know 
I had everything my own way in that old town while 
“Billy” was running things for me, but those fellows 
have just simply knocked the props from under me 
and there is no telling what will happen next, as they 
have absolutely no use for me or my best friends, who 
have been “doing things” and I am awful sorry that 
they sent so many of “my Boys” down to “OLD 
RIVERSIDE.” 

Mr. President, I must tell you, while I think of it, 
I like the way you turned Pinchot down for my friend 
Ballinger. I don’t like that fellow Pinchot even a little 


188 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


bit—he is too popular with the people and might d6 
me some harm. And I also like the way in which you 
treated that fellow Johnson in New Mexico. You 
know he was opposing my people out there, and no 
telling what might have happened if he had been re¬ 
tained by “our government. ,, He is a trouble maker 
from the word go. If he had been of the same stripe 
as my friend, “Jack Johnson,” why I would not care 
a snap of my finger, but he is not, so I want him re¬ 
moved, and thank you, Mr. President, for the “good 
work.” And I want to tell you right now that if you 
had considered the petition of those ministers, to re¬ 
consider his discharge, you would have gained my dis¬ 
favor, and you know that my friendship is “worth 
something.” 

Mr. President I hate to mention the matter, but 
everything does not look so rosy to me just now. Just 
think how fast the women are coming to the front in 
the different states. It makes m«e feel awful uneasy. 
But say, Mr. President, whatever you do, don’t men¬ 
tion this, for I would not have them know that I was 
feeling uneasy for anything, for they would say they 
had me “on the run,” and matters look gloomy 
enough as it is. Do you know that they have car¬ 
ried the day in California? Then there in Utah, Idaho, 
Wyoming, Colorado and Washington, and the first 
thing you know, they will be “marching on to Wash¬ 
ington, D. C.” 

And you also no doubt know, Mr. President, that 
the women have said, for years, that if they ever 
had the opportunity, they would put my boys that are 
engaged in the liquor trade out of business. I know 


189 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


enough about them, to believe they will, if they get 
the chance, for they know how many are coming to 
my head-quarters through this great feeder, and in 
spite of all the churches and sunday-schools can do. 
Do you wonder, Mr. President, that I am feeling un¬ 
easy? 

Now, Mr. President, to prove to you that I know 
what I am; talking about, (and you know I generally 
do know) just look how the women helped to defeat 
my friend Gill for mayor of Seattle. You know Gill 
stood for an “open town” and that is what I like—for 
what chance have I in a “closed town ?” 

That man Cotterill, whom the women elected is 
a prominent temperance advocate and churchman and 
no doubt he is going to turn things up-side-down out 
there. You know that will set a “bad example” to 
the other towns and cities of the country. There is 
no telling Mr. President, where this reform move is 
going to end, for the whole country seems per¬ 
meated with it. Talk about a volcano in the Culebra 
cut in the Panama Canal, why it would not be a cir¬ 
cumstance to what the worsen are going to do in this 
country. Now, let me whisper this in your ear, for 
fear some one will hear—“the men of the United States 
have been asleep at the switch for a good many years, 
and as a result I have been switching the cars to suit 
my self. Maybe you think I have not had some fun. 
What made me feel so good over the matter, was the 
fact that the Grand Old Party and the Democratic 
Party and their leaders have stood by and “grinned” 
and said nothing. I surely have “made hay while the 
sun was shining,” but I am terribly afraid that the 


190 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


“jig-is-up” for “us all” and we will soon have to go 
“to sawing wood.” 

There is another thing, Mr. President, that is 
giving me considerable concern, and that is this great 
Religion Forward Movement among the men of this 
country. It threatens to become world wide. It is 
perfectly natural to suppose that these fellows are 
going to make in warm for me all along “the line,” 
and most of them are aware of the fact that “my boys” 
in the saloon business are injuring their fellow men and 
if they are going to be “consistent” they will have to 
fight it. 

Another thing I deplore is the rapid growth of the 
Holy Name Society of the Catholic Church. Those 
fellows are not going to be long in waking up to the 
fact that the “booze” handed over the counters by “my 
boys,” causes more men to take God's name in vain 
than anything else, and they will be right after the root 
of the thing. Now, of course, Mr. President, as I said 
before, all this information is given you in strict con¬ 
fidence and you are not to mention it to any one. 

Now, Your Honor, just think what these two great 
religious movements mean, coupled with the women 
coming into their rights and having a chance to vote, 
and the great work and influence of the Womens 
Christian Temperance Union and, last, but by no 
means least, the Prohibition party, which has been 
working for years to try to overthrow the most val¬ 
uable business I have in this country. Now that they 
are going to have all this additional help, it has me 
considerably worried. Can you wonder at my anxiety ? 
Why, Mr. President, I can almost see the chains and 


191 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


hear their clanging, as they gather them up and 
bring them forward to bind me, it makes my very 
flesh quiver and crawl. For it reminds me of things 
that were predicted for me a good many hundred years 
ago but I did not know that time had flown so fast. 
My, how time does seem to fly, and I have had such 
a good time all these years and to think the end is 
near is anything but comforting to me. 

Before bidding you good-bye, permit me to say 
that I do not like the way things have gone out in 
Maine as it will set a bad example and cause me no 
end of trouble in other states. And what makes me 
feel so blue about it, is the fact that “my boys’"' spent 
about a million dollars, in trying to “carry the day.” 

Pardon me, Mr. President, for my seeming im¬ 
politeness, for starting to leave Your Highness with¬ 
out saying anything about the great reception I pro¬ 
pose to give you gentlemen when you visit me. Know¬ 
ing from past experience, and judging from your MOST 
LOYAL SUPPORT of the past that most of you are 
fond of good drinks, I have ordered some special brands 

from my friend on - street, whom* most, 

if not all of you gentlemen know. In addition to these, 
I have a brand that none of you have ever tasted—it 
is a “hot one,” and also remembering that most of you 
are fond of motoring, I have prepared a special machine 
for your exclusive use, and you don’t have to do any 
scorching for it does all that itself— it’s red-hot on 
the track. 


192 




Fallacies of Our National Government. 


CHAPTER XXII. 

ARMAGEDDON. 

At the convention held in Chicago, at which the 
“Progressive party” was born, Colonel Roosevelt closed 
a “notable” address by borrowing a bible word from 
Revelations. He said “We stand at ‘Armageddon" and 
battle for the lord.” 

Colonel Roosevelt did valiant service at the bat¬ 
tle of Santiago, which a great many have thought 
opened the way for him to become President of the 
United States, for the Americans are known as great 
hero worshipers, but sometimes they get angry with 
their heroes, as in the case of Dewey. 

Colonel Roosevelt has done and said different things 
before he became Chief Executive of this country— 
while he was Presidest, and since he retired to private 
life that have caused him to be much admired. We have 
been among the great number who have admired him 
for his many manly qualities, but sometimes great 
men do things and omit doing other very important 
things that cause us to pause, think and question their 
sincerity. 

The Colonel has had considerable to say in de¬ 
fense of downtrodden and oppressed women and child¬ 
ren. He would leave the impression that he is the 
greatest living champion of their rights, and will fight 
to the last ditch in their behalf. He speaks of them 
being overworked and underpaid in factories, shops, 
stores and other places where they are forced of nec¬ 
essity, to toil for their daily bread. 


193 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


We believe the Colonel is better posted than al¬ 
most any other man in this country as to the various 
causes of the uncalled for and heinous oppression of 
hundreds of thousands of poor women and children 
in this land of “ the free and brave ?” Why does the 
Colonel wilfully omit having a single word incorpor¬ 
ated in the platform of his “ Bull Moose ” or “ Pro¬ 
gressive” party about the thing that causes more suf¬ 
fering among women and children than all other causes 
combined? The thing that is responsible for more 
criminals, more insane, more widows and orphans, 
more poverty, more white slaves, more blind and still 
born babes, more deformity, more feeble-minded, more 
debauched men and women, more divorces, more red- 
light districts, and as a result more policemen, judges, 
juries and trials, more jails, more penitentiaries, more 
insane asylums, more feeble-mjnded institutions, more 
charity, organizations, etc., than all other causes com¬ 
bined, and as a final result, more taxes for every one 
to pay in order to foot the bills There is only one rea¬ 
son we can think of and that is the one that both the 
old party leaders have clung to for years—they want 
the votes of the liquor element and the horrible things 
we have mentioned above is the price we pay. In this 
respect Colonel Roosevelt's new party is no better than 
the others. 

If the Colonel would have the American people 
believe that he was sincere when he said “We stand 
at ‘Armageddon' and battle for the Lord,'' then let him 
put on the “full armour” as described by Paul, and not 
go out with the “head piece” alone. Then we will be¬ 
lieve what he says and will gladly say “more power to 


194 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


you.” But until he does this we are inclined to be¬ 
lieve that the “Lord” he is battling for is none other 
than Theodore Roosevelt. 


195 


























Fallacies of Our National Government. 


CHAPTER XXIII. 

WHAT WOULD LINCOLN DO? 

The question of what our martyred president 
would do in the present crisis, has been asked and 
answered a good many times within the last fifteen or 
twenty years. 

He, who showed what a big, loving and sympa¬ 
thetic heart he had for an oppressed race, by the action 
he took to liberate them, could not stand today and say 
he could not do anything to help the millions of his 
own race, as well as those of the colored race, out 
from under the worst oppression known to civilization. 

If he were willing that the lives of thousands 
of white men should be sacrificed to free the colored 
people, would he not be willing to give the best there 
was in him to overthrow an evil that is dragging men's 
bodies to an early grave and sending their souls to tor¬ 
ment by the millions? 

We think the question as to the stand he would 
take can be answered in some words to which he gave 
utterance. They are as follows:—“I am not bound 
to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to 
succeed, but I am bound to live up to what light I have. 
I must stand with any body that stands right; stand 
with him while he is right and part with him when 
he goes wrong." 

He said he was not bound to win, but was bound to 
be true. We would infer from this that he would not 
allow his political ambitions to interfere with his 
Christian duty. No matter what his political associates 


197 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


might think, he would not lend himself to what he 
considered wrong. Oh, how many men have gone 
down to defeat because they did not have the courage 
and manhood to stand for the right. He said he was 
bound to be true, could a man be true, in a higher sense, 
and see millions of his fellow creatures being abused? 
No, Lincoln did not mean such a false idea of being true, 
for he was a man who recognized not only the exalted 
position to which the people had elected him but he ap¬ 
preciated, in the fullest sense, his responsibility to those 
people. Therefore the writer feels safe in assuming 
that such things as trusts would have never survided 
under his administration any more than the liquor tra¬ 
ffic would have continued. The next thing he said was 
that he was not bound to succeed. If success had to be 
bought with thousands of dollars, as it is by some people 
to-day who hold high positions, then Lincoln would 
have failed, but he won on his merit. He also said 
he was bound to live up to what light he had. Do 
those in authority today live up to what light they 
have? Have not the evils of this land been pointed 
out to them, time and time again, and to what avail? 
Would Lincoln have been able to see them ? And tak¬ 
ing him at his word, would he have tolerated them? 
To do justice to his memory we say “no.” Then he 
stands even in death head and shoulders above all 
those who have suceeded him to the highest office 
in this land. 

He also said he must stand with anybody who 
stood right. According to this statement if Lincoln 
were living today he would not be a member of the 
present political party that is doing business under 


198 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


the name of the Republican party. Either this, or 
the Republican party of to-day would not stand for 
a good many things that it is standing for. Not only 
this, but things it either knows to be wrong or toler¬ 
ates because its members have lost all conscience. 

Then that grand, noble character concluded his 
sentence by saying “stand with him while he is right 
and part with him when he goes wrong.” Has the Re¬ 
publican party gone wrong since Lincoln was pres¬ 
ident? If the writer could ask this question loud 
enough for everybody in the United States to hear 
and could hear the answers, not less than seventy 
million men, women and children would say “yes.” 
Then, as stated, Lincoln would not be a Republican 
any more than thousands and thousands of other men 
are to-day, who have been forced to turn their backs 
upon an organization that has lost all self respect and 
has gone down to the beer and whiskey puddle to 
wallow with the hogs. 

When such grand women as Harriet Beecher 
Stowe pictured the horrible condition of the colored 
slaves and President Lincoln had it called to his at¬ 
tention, it did not take him long to make up his mind 
what to do, and he did it. If he were living to-day 
under the conditions we are living under he would hear 
the cry of the afflicted and give them succor. The 
three hundred and thirty five millions of dollars in rev¬ 
enue, (which costs the people over two billions, of dol¬ 
lars), would not cause him to pause for a moment. 


199 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


He would see his duty and he would do it. So what 
would Lincoln be ? There is only one thing he could be 
under the circumstances, and that is a combined 
Christian Socialist and Prohibitionist. 


200 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


CHAPTER XXIV. 

How PRESIDENT TAFT could become as great as 
WASHINGTON and LINCOLN, and live in 
grateful remembrance of the people 
years after he had passed to 
the other shore. 

If President Taft should deliver a message to Con¬ 
gress, something like the following, he would be pro¬ 
claimed the greatest man of the age, not alone in this 
country, but throughout the civilized world, namely:— 
“Gentlemen of the Congress of the United States 
of America: I have a very important message to de¬ 
liver to your honorable body, and one, no doubt, that 
will cause considerable surprise, and more or less con¬ 
troversy. But like a very notable predecessor of mine, 
who endeared himself to his people and altho having 
passed away, a good many years ago still lives in their 
hearts and memories because, as he said “I am bound 
to do right, no matter what it costs,” I have come to 
the conclusion that it is my duty, as the Chief Executive 
of this country, to declare myself against the great¬ 
est evil in our midst which has been allowed to go on 
many years to the detriment of the entire nation, I 
have reference, gentlemen, to the liquor business, 
which, as a party and a government, we have given 
our approval to. I have not come to this state of mind 
or determination without serious consideration of the 
question in its different phases. 

We have admitted for a good many years that we 
had to have the revenue derived from this business 
to help support our government. But in the face of 


201 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


the facts, of which all of you are aware, or rather 
should be acquainted, we are accepting blood money. 
The business has become so enormous and its work 
of destruction so great and appalling, I can not longer 
treat the matter lightly. We used the money derived 
from this business to help free the poor colored slaves 
of the Southland, but a much grater curse, not alone in 
my opinion, but in the opinion of some of the best and 
greatest people in our country in various walks of life 
has come to us, and one which affects not only the 
colored man, but white men and women, boys and 
girls, of our land. A traffic that is sending not less 
than a hundred thousand men to drunkards’ graves 
and their souls to perdition every year. And not only 
this, gentlemen, but it is a detriment to every kind of 
legitimate business. I firmly believe it is largely re¬ 
sponsible for the business depression of the past four 
years. 

I hope and trust you will give this question your 
most careful and thoughtful consideration, and give 
me your hearty support in trying to overthrow it. 

Sincerely yours, 

Wm. H. Taft, President. 

What would be the result of such a message ? 
Without having to draw on our imagination in the least 
we can see telegrams' from all over the civilized world 
—from^ people in the highest walks of life to the most 
humble, pouring into Washington by the hundreds of 
thousands and letters by the millions, congratulating 
the President on the brave and manly stand he had 
taken and wishing him every success and promising 
their most loyal support. 


202 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


Talk about Taft being popular? Why, he could 
have anything he asked for. Yes, better still — he 
could have anything within the gift of the people, 
without having to ask for it. But is he, or will he be 
equal to the occasion, or will he wait for some one 
else to do the deed and receive the honor and blessing ? 
It is coming, Mr. President; why cannot you be 
the Man ? 


203 




Fallacies of Our National Government. 


CHAPTER XXV. 

THE REMEDY AND VICTORY. 

In the minds of many of the best thinkers of this 
country, it has been the opinion for years that the 
Christian Churches of this land have had it in their 
power to overthrow the liquor traffic. 

Harriet Beecher Stowe, that grand woman who 
gave us “Uncle Tom's Cabin," which a great many 
think had more to do with causing the U. S. govern¬ 
ment to take action in regard to the colored slaves, of 
the Southland than any one thing, deplored the fact 
that the Christian church did not awake to its respon¬ 
sibilities and throw off that monstrous evil. 

Mrs. Stowe painted as black a picture in words; 
as any renowned artist ever accomplished with his 
brush, but with all its heinousness and cruelty, it did 
not compare with the poverty, degradation and crime, 
that is caused by the saloons of to-day. 

Where one poor colored man or woman was mis¬ 
treated, during the days of their enslavement, a hun¬ 
dred men, women and children suffer to-day. They 
suffer with cruelty, not from a hard-hearted task¬ 
master, who required with the lash that a certain 
amount of work be done each day, but they suffer the 
abuse of drunken husbands and fathers. They suf¬ 
fer from hunger and nakedness. They suffer the pangs 
of uncalled-for and unnecessary poverty. They suf¬ 
fer from insults heaped upon them, because of a drunk¬ 
en husband and father. 

The church knows all these things. Still its mem- 


205 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


bers, and quite a number of its ministers, pray “Thy 
will be done on earth as it is in heaven” and at the next 
presidential election they go to the polls and vote for 
its continuance. If you ask them the reason, som,e of 
them will say, “well, my grandfather was a “good” 
Republican, my father would never think of deserting 
the “Grand Old Party” and for me to deviate from that 
path, would be a “Great Sin.” 

Others will say, “Grandpa and Pa always were fol¬ 
lowers of the “party of Jefferson” and I respect their 
memories too much to think of voting any other ticket.” 
Do you know what such people remind us of? They 
remind us of a great political speaker of our boyhood 
days, who, in one of his speaches one day, told his 
audience that the country was going to hell, and some 
one in the audience cried out “and what will become of 
you ?” He said “I will die patriotic and go to hell with 
my beloved country.” 

This is the trouble with a great many church 
members to-day, they are determined to hang on to the 
skirts of the two old whiskey soaked political parties, 
even if they drag them through the gates of hell and 
right into the midst of the flames. 

“Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” 
Do the church members who make that prayer believe 
in what they are saying ? If they do, they either have 
a very poor idea of heaven or they belong to the worse 
from of hypocrites that ever came upon the face of 
the earth. 

If conditions were no better in heaven than they 
are on this earth then the writer for one, would not 


206 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


care to go there. No, he would rather seek a lonely 
island, and arrange things to suit him. 

They pray “Thy will be done on earth as it is in 
heaven.” We wonder if they think it is God’s will that 
700,000 men should be sent by their votes to hell each 
year ? And we also wonder if they think that God will 
overlook the fact that they voted every four years for 
its continuance? These are very serious questions, 
and they may cause a great many church members 
to wish som,e day they had answered them sooner. 

President Samuel Dickie, L. L. D., of Albion Col¬ 
lege, Michigan, in writing of the duty of men to the 
church and the churches obligation to God and man 
says— 

“We lay down at the outset a few fundamental 
propositions to be accepted as the basis of future dis¬ 
cussion. 

(1) That the Bible is the word of God and a 
revelation of His will, and as such we are under the 
highest possible obligation to obey its precepts and 
model our lives according to its teachings. 

(2) That the church is an instutition Divinely 
enjoined, but humanly established, man-made as to 
its machinery and methods, and consequently not with 
out imperfections. 

(3) That with all of its imperfections, the church 
is the best thing in sight as a medium through which 
and an agency by which Devine forces are operating 
for the world’s moral and spiritual uplift. 

(4) That devotion to the church as an organiza¬ 
tion, pride of ecclesiastical bigness, and enthusiasm 
in behalf of denominational success, though possibly 


207 



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sometimes worthy of commendation, may ill exist 
quite apart from a true and full appreciation of the 
exalted mission of the church. 

(5) That to point out her weakness and indicate 
the remedy needed by the church to increase her effic¬ 
iency and multiply her power is to do the church good 
and not harm, and they are her truest friends who, 
with something of the Master's spirit, exhort the 
church to conform her actual life to her own exalted 
ideals. 

We begin, then, our discussion of the subject in 
hand by declaring that the Church of God, though 
the exponent of His love and tenderness to men, ought 
to be, and if supremely efficient must be and will be a 
militant organization, aggresively hostile to all evil, 
and utterly unable to maintain peaceful relations with 
systems, organizations or institutions out of harmony 
with the spirit of Christianity. 

Whatever tends to make man nobler, to exalt 
purity of life, to broaden sympathy, deepen charity, 
lessen sorrow orj multiply gladness, whatever lifts life 
from the low and mean and sordid, whatever brightens 
and beautifies and spiritualizes, whatever makes for 
joy and hope and heaven, and these are the friends 
)f Christianity, and all these the church must champion. 

But whatever moves men down the scale of be¬ 
ing, whatever makes men less manly, whatever de¬ 
grades human life and lowers the tone of society, 
woe and sorrow and want, whatever robs heaven and 
peoples perdition, whatever subtracts from the sum 
total of human joy and adds to the world's wretched¬ 
ness, whatever yields poverty, ignorance, crime and 


208 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


tears, whatever breaks hearts, shatters hordes, scat¬ 
ters families and blights happiness, whatever turns 
love to hate and joy to midnight sadness, whatever bes- 
tializes and saddens and sorrows, whatever takes from 
life the light of hope and substitutes the gloom of 
despair, whatever effaces from man the image of his 
Maker, all these are the enemies of Christianity, and the 
church cannot be true to her mission and live on friend¬ 
ly terms with foes who seek to destroy and to tear 
down what she is endeavoring to build up. Not peace 
but war, is the normal condition of the church in the 
presence of evil forces; war, constant, relentless, ex¬ 
terminating war, must characterize the church true 
to her mission to overthrow the kingdom of Satan. 

Christ says: “I came not to bring peace but the 
sword,” and while His religion is a religion of love and 
of light, the Scriptures set forth no truth more clearly 
than that the Christian career is one of conflict. The 
imagery of the Bible gives us a varying panorama of 
human life in its highest, in a glittering array of mil¬ 
itary figures and battlefields and heroic characters, 
while its exhortations and injunctions are to put on 
armor, wear helmets, grasp swords, seize shields, 
fight a good fight, achieve a glorious victory and re¬ 
ceive a crown of rejoicing. 

A militant Christianity, a Christianity on the war¬ 
path, a Christianity kind and loving and charitable and 
tolerant to evil-doers, but harsh and remorseless and in¬ 
tolerant to evil-doers, but harsh and remorseless and 
in the all-conquering power of its Master and recog¬ 
nizes the imminence of His commands, a Christianity 
with supreme faith that right is might and with a 


209 



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courageous conviction of its own resistless power — 
that is the Christianity that in spite of cowards and 
dullards has done the work of past progress and must 
do the work that lies before us. 

In the tremendous battle now raging between the 
forces that make for the world’s uplift and for the 
world’s degradation, is the church bearing herself as 
the worthy and courageous champion of Christian 
principles? In the person of her ecclesiastical leader¬ 
ship, in her concern for the highest welfare of the 
race, in her attitude toward powerful organizations 
and systems that seek to destroy her influence and par¬ 
alyze her usefulness, does the church occupy the posi¬ 
tion that the militant hosts of the Great Commander 
ought to be expected to occupy in these opening years 
of Christianity’s twentieth century? Sadly, sorrow¬ 
fully, with shame-faced humiliation, with tears in our 
hearts and tears in our voices, we must answer our 
own query with a reluctant but unqualified “No.” Oh! 
what an apology for the church as she ought to be, 
do we find in the church as she is. What a measure¬ 
less—but let us hope not impassable—chasm separates 
the ideal from the actual. 

The materialistic tendencies of the day, the vast 
power of wealth, the place-seeking ambitions of men 
at the front in ecclesiastical affairs, denominational 
pride, the struggle to surpass in numerical strength, 
in magnificence of architecture, in richness of endow¬ 
ment, the fear of arousing opposition, all these have 
exerted a powerful influence to tone down churchly ac¬ 
tion, if not churchly resolution, and to render the 


210 



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church more closely conformed to the world than was 
ever the scriptural idea. 

Refinement, politeness and Christian courtesy are 
on the increase, but I am not so sure that simplicity, 
downright sincerity, four-square honesty of conviction 
and hardy moral courage are not the losers by more 
than the polished graces have gained. There is a ten¬ 
dency to substitute the merely sentimental for the sub¬ 
stantial in Christian character, a tendency especially 
operative during the last 25 years, and which has 
yielded a type of Christian who is kind hearted, sweet- 
spirited, moderately charitable, disposed to dodge dif¬ 
ficulties and evade responsibilities, lazily tolerant of 
evil, content with a medium standard and quite willing 
to be carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease. 

If I were asked to put my finger to-day upon the 
most unfortunate symptoms of our church life, I would 
point out our lack of Christian cemjbativeness, our 
willingness to live on terms of peace with those evils 
against which we ought to urge a relentless war of ex¬ 
termination. 

The average Christian is not a bold Christian. The 
average minister is not a courageous leader of a mil¬ 
itant host. I would not be understood as depreciating 
our clergymen. They are the choicest of America’s man¬ 
hood, but sadly below an ideal standard, and we of the 
pews would soon show a marvelous advance if the oc¬ 
cupant of the pulpit were always to make it apparent 
that he feared God rather than man. 

(1) The saloon, corrupt, corrupting, murderous, 
soul-destroying, hell-populating, is here by the express 


211 



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consent of the church, registered, not in convention 
assembled, but by the ballot of the Christian voter. 

(2) If the liquor traffic is what the church de¬ 
clares it to be, and if "it can never be legalized with¬ 
out sin,”then every voter who unites in registering the 
popular consent to a continuation of the license policy 
is as clearly guilty before God as though he by his 
own unaided act had determined the whole case. 

(3) Though less than half our voting citizens 
are church members, yet when even a majority of 
our Christian citizens determine that no party on 
friendly terms with the rum traffic can have their sup¬ 
port, victory is certain. 

(4) Under the present conditions, the church, 
judged by the conduct of its members, stands convicted 
before all the world of being less sincere, less quick 
and sensitive, less jealous of the rights of Jesus Christ 
in our government, than the liquor dealer, of his 
alleged rights of traffic. 

(5) So far-reaching and so multitudinous are the 
ramifications of power weilded by the liquor traffic in 
its social, commercial and political relations, and so 
abject is the surrender thereto, that the great major¬ 
ity of American Christians, laymen and clergymen 
alike, do not and apparently dare not conform their 
lives in speech and action to the declarations which 
have been put forth on this subject by their own eccles¬ 
iastical bodies. 

(6) Within the past three years, the readiness 
with which distinguished churchman have become the 
apologists for wrong-doing in high places, the prompt¬ 
ness with which they have come to the defense of 


212 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


wickedness on the part of the great and powerful, the 
equanimity with which they accept the surrender to this 
rum power, have done more to discredit Christian sin¬ 
cerity and discount Christian character before all the 
world than could be accomplished by all the wisdom 
of infidelity and thq ignorance of agnosticism. 

Contemplation of the manner in which the church 
is cowed and cudgeled or coddled and controlled by the 
grogshop should move to tears not tirades, sorrows in¬ 
stead of sarcasm, calls for sackcloth, ashes, humiliation, 
penitence, prayer, purification. Between the church and 
the saloon there should be nothing in common. The 
church conserves the good, while the saloon developes 
the evil that is in man. The church seeks to make the 
bad good and the good better, the saloon makes the 
good men bad and the bad men worse. The one is on 
the side of law, order decency, morality, purity; the 
other is the synonym of crime, debauchery, lust and 
all uncleanliness. 

Between the ideal church and the actual saloon 
there can exist but one condition, war, relentless, 
uncompromising, continuous. There can be no patch¬ 
ed up peace, no truce, no idleness, no consent for a 
consideration, no waiting for an opportune time, no 
timorous search for a “discreet” mode of procedure, 
no let-alone policy when the church as she ought to be 
opens her eyes to the saloon as it is. 

But pleasant as it is to contemplate a possible at¬ 
titude or an ideal church, when we focus our thoughts 
upon things as they are rather than as they should be, 
we find no such hostility between the church and the 
saloon as ought to exist. Rather we find them in many 


213 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


respects congenial yoke-fellows, friendly coadjutors, 
profit-sharing partners, one a huge, organized crim¬ 
inal, the other particeps criminis both before and after 
the fact. 

Am I using strong terms ? Yes, for strong terms 
alone can truthfully state the case. Does some one ask 
if I am ignorant of the vigorous resolutions, the son¬ 
orous denunciations, the formal utterances of the 
church in reference to the liquor traffic? Not at all, 
and if the resolutions, instead of the men who adopted 
them, were the church the condition would be well 
nigh ideal. 

What is the church? A piece of parchment? A 
creed? A list of high-sounding resolutions? No. the 
church is a body of men and women, and its attitude 
upon any question is determined not by resolutions 
passed in an exalted moment, but by the steady course 
of conduct pursued by those wha constitute her mem¬ 
bership. 

Deeming the church to be its members, not its 
resolutions, and determining its attitude by the con¬ 
duct of those who hold the elective franchise, I do not 
hesitate to say that the church is guilty of giving ex¬ 
press consent that the rum traffic may continue to 
prosecute its awful work. Here is a traffic concerning 
which no good thing can be said, which breeds woe and 
wickedness untold, and which, if religion be not a farce 
and the Bible a fraud, sends more unfortunates to hell 
than the church is able to win for heaven; and yet we 
find our ecclesiastical leaders, in conference, synod and 
assembly, openly and boastfully allying themselves 
with great political organizations that cannot live 


214 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


without courting and maintaining friendly relations 
with this fearful business. 

When the preachers speak the word the church 
will fall into line, and when the church seriously at¬ 
tacks the liquor traffic the battle will be won. What 
the church needs is not more culture of more philos¬ 
ophy or more theology, or higher criticism, but more 
heroic marshaling of her forces, as a militant host, 
against the organized powers of evil. ,, * * * * 

As President Dickie says, it is sometimes neces¬ 
sary to use pretty strong language to make us see and 
do our duty; yes it’s necessary to drag some men over 
dead men's bodies, to get them to wake up to their 
responsibilities to other men. The churches of Amer¬ 
ica talk about evangelizing the world, and are spending 
ten millions of dollars a year to convert the heathen of 
foreign lands, while over here we are voting to send 
nearly a million a year down the dark road to eternal 
damnation. Is this consistency? People of some of 
the foreign countries have said, if we would send them 
more missionaries and less rum, their countries would 
be much better off. 

While the writer believes in foreign, as well as 
home missionary work, he also believes that God would 
be much better pleased if we would put the liquor busi¬ 
ness out of existence, than He is at our holding on to it, 
while sending our money to the people of other lands 
to convert them to what? To thinking as we do, that 
the saloon is all right? A man should put his own 
house in order before he attempts to tell some one else 
how to keep house. 

Sending so much money abroad to help people who 


215 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


are not as bad as ourselves reminds us of a story told 
about one of our wealthy families, who were traveling 
over Europe. Some one asked the daughter of the fam¬ 
ily about Yellowstone park, Niagara Falls, Mammoth 
cave, the Rocky mountains and Hudson river, and she 
blushingly had to admit that she had never seen them, 
when her gentleman friend remarked “that he would 
rather see the wonders of his own country than to 
travel through a foreign land. 

No doubt, a great many foreigners think we had 
better do away with the evils of our own land, before 
we begin on them. 

We have been charging the two old parties with 
the responsibility of the existence of the liquor traffic. 
But, as President Dickie says, could they keep it going, 
if the majority of the church members should vote 
against it? The very fact that the majority of church 
members vote for it, enables them to keep the horri¬ 
fying monster alive. 

During the summer of 1911, Clinton N. Howard, 
that brave champion of temperance, and William Jen¬ 
nings Bryan both spoke at Lithia Springs, Ill., Chau¬ 
tauqua. Mr. Howard’s address came first, Mr. Bryan 
occupying a front seat during his address. As Howard 
reasoned on temperance, righteousness and the judg¬ 
ment to com^e, tears trickled down the face of the great 
“Commoner” and wet his coat sleeve. He remarked 
that was the first time, in many years, that a speaker 
had moved him to tears. This is said to be the first 
Prohibition party speech Mr. Bryan every heard in his 
life. It is to be hoped that conviction has come to Mr. 
Bryan and that conversion may soon follow. The 


216 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


writer would certainly like to see him “come through,” 
but he does not want simply a warm weather conver¬ 
sion, but one that will stand the test when the cold, 
chilly winds of a November election strikes him. 

It would be a good thing if Clinton N. Howard 
could appear before Congress and the President and 
tell them a few things, and see if they would shed any 
tears and how long the tears would last. 

The writer is afraid that their tears would be like 
those of the wom,an who nearly cried her eyes out when 
her husband died, and married another man a month 
later. 

The trouble with most people is, that something 
terrible has to happen to wake them up. The writer 
was living in Louisville, Ky., some years ago, when 
they had the awful cyclone that killed so many people 
and devasted so many houses. 

People who, it was said, never had prayed before, 
sank on their knees that night and promised God if He 
would spare their sinful lives they would reform. But 
as soon as the excitement was over they returned to 
their sinful ways and pursuits. 

Som,e years ago the late Horace Mann, the emi¬ 
nent educator, delivered an address at the opening of 
a reformatory institution for boys, during which he 
remarked that if only one boy was saved from ruin it 
would pay for all the cost, care and labor of establish¬ 
ing such an institution as that. 

After the exercise Mr. Mann was asked, “Did you 
not color it a little, when you said that all the expense 
and labor would be repaid if it saved only one boy?” 


217 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


“Not if it were my boy,” was the solemn, but con¬ 
vincing reply. 

There is a wonderful value about “my boy.” 
Other boys may be rude, rough and dissipated; other 
boys may be wild, reckless and drunken; other boys 
may seem to require more care, labor, prayers and 
coaching, than they ever will repay; other boys may 
be left to drift, uncared for, to the saloon and bad 
company, which is nearly always so close at hand. The 
saloon keeper who would not make a drunkard of your 
boy is unheard of; he does not exist. “My boy” is 
worth the toil, labor and care of a lifetime. Shall I 
take the chance of the saloon fastening its fangs upon 
“my boy,” and dragging him down to ruin, or shall I 
vote that terrible menace out of existence? If small¬ 
pox were in your neighborhood, it would be quaran¬ 
tined at once, and your boy not be allowed to go in and 
out. The saloon in your neighborhood has sent more 
men and boys down to death and perdition than small¬ 
pox ever did, or ever will do. Every wandering, home¬ 
less man is one whom some mother called “my boy.” 

Wine, beer and whiskey have been the chief 
agencies in the downfall of women and girls. Every 
last women sunken in the depths of sin, was some¬ 
body's daughter in her days of childhood innocence 
To-day how many Somebody's sons and daughters, 
weary, helpless wanderers, started on this downward 
path by drink; driven now by necessity in the path 
which leads to death. Shall we shrink from labor, or 
count the cost, or permit the saloon—The Great De¬ 
stroyer—to live, thrive and get rich trafficing in the 
lives of your boy and mine ? God forbid. 


218 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


Boys Wanted. 

“Wanted some bright boys, full of cheer, 

To stand at my counter as drinkers of beer. 

To fill up the ranks, without further delay, 

Of the army of drunkards passing away, 

A hundred thousand a year will just supply 
The loss of our trade from the drunkards who die. 
Send those who can toil, or have wealth to bestow, 

For profits are small on old drinkers you know; 

Let them* come from the shop, the school or the home, 
We’ll welcome them all, whoever may come. 

Let mothers surrender their sons to our cause, 

And fathers keep voting for good license laws; 

For if you will vote to keep running the mill, 

You must furnish the grist, or the wheels will stand 
still ” * ***** ****** 

“Let reverence for law be taught in the school- 
house, in the church; let it be printed in our text¬ 
books; let it be preached from every pulpit; let it be 
told in every legislative hall; in short, let it become the 
political religion of the country.”—Lincoln. 

In the preceding pages we have shown the incon¬ 
sistency of church members who are largely responsi¬ 
ble for the horrible conditions about which we have 
been writing and now we want to tell of the different 
movements that are under way for the uplift of man. 

Aside from* what the churches have done, we 
have such grand organizations as the NationI Prihibi- 
tion party, which has been laboring hard for a great 
many years to create sentiment against the liquor 
traffic. While it has not been able to overthrow it, it 


219 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


has had prohibitory laws enacted in different states, 
the most prominent being the state of Maine, where 
the legal sale of liquor has been prohibited for over 40 
years. 

While it has not succeeded in preventing it from 
being smuggled in, due to the two old whiskey political 
parties keeping it alive in other states, it has suceeded 
to such a large extent, that it has made Maine the most 
beautiful and prosperous state in the Union. One will 
find more true happiness and real prosperity there than 
in any other state. 

The liquor element tried hard to gain a footing in 
Maine during the election of 1911, and although it 
spent about $1,000,000 in its efforts it lost the day and 
“Righteousness, which exalteth a nation,” still reigns, 
and, let us hope, will continue to do so until we are able 
to overthrow it as a nation, which time the writer be¬ 
lieves is not far distant, and will state his reasons 
later. 

Should we fail to mention the names of some of 
the grand men who have been foremost in this work 
since its birth, we would be doing both them and the 
grand cause for which they have so nobly labored, a 
terrible injustice. For the day is coming when the 
names of not only the illustrious men, but the mag¬ 
nificent women who have devoted their lives to this 
great cause, in the interest of abused and suffering hu¬ 
manity, will be written in future histories in glowing 
colors as the real heroes of our country, while those in 
power, who have refused to act, will be dishonored. 

The men who founded the Prohibition party and 
fought its earliest battles are General Neal Dow, James 


220 




GENERAL NEAL DOW 















Fallacies of Our National Government. 


Black, Green Clay Smith, General Clinton B. Fisk and 
John Bidwell, all of whom have passed on, who already 
occupy riches which the world reserves for its greatest 
and its best. Few will dispute the sublimity of their 
devotion or the value of their works. Some of the 
associates of these men still survive, notably John P. 
St. John, the first Prohibition governor of Kansas and 
the candidate of the Prohibition party for President in 
1884. These knights of the early days are either with 
the saints or awaiting the last call, but their good 
swords have come down to others who are waging the 
fight with no less devotion and with the rare courage 
of a faith triumphant. Among these present day leaders 
are Charles R. Jones, Samuel Dickie, Finley C. Hen¬ 
drickson, James B. Cranfill, A. G. Wolfenbarger, A. A. 
Stevens, Felix T. McWhorter, O. W. Stewart, W. G. 
Calderwood, Joshua Levering, Silas C. Swallow, A. S. 
Watkins and Eugene W. Chafin. 

The Honorable Charles R. Jones, whose long and 
successful career as Pennsylvania State Chairman won 
him the National Chairmanship to which he was unan¬ 
imously elected and which he has held with great 
honor to both himself and the party for ten years or 
more. He has endeared himself to the lovers of the 
temperance cause everywhere. 

After Forty Years. 

The faith that keeps on fighting is the one 
That keeps on living—yes, and growing great! 

The hope that sees the work yet to be done, 

The patience that can bid the soul to wait— 

These three—faith, hope and patience—they have made 


221 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


The record of the years that swiftly sped, 

Have kept the leaders leading, unafraid 
Of what the doubters murmured lurked ahead. 

The faith that goes on fighting—through the night 
It notes the gleam of each far distant star; 

It sees the glimmer of the dawning light 
Deep in the dark that shrouds the things that are. 

It has done much, this faith serene and strong, 
Unmindful of the ashes of defeat. 

But, trusting in the right against the wrong, 

Has been as trumpet call or drum's loud beat. 

Men have their principles, but when they lose 
They turn to others, and with scarce a pause. 

Yet all these years there has been none to choose 
Another guerdon than this mighty cause. 

In history's pages many things appear— 

The great, the splendid actions and the mean— 

But this has been recorded year on year 
Upon a page imperishably clean. 

To place contentment in a nation's homes, 

To drive out fear for cheer in children's hearts, 

Is more than to uprear a thousand domes 
Or dominate the world and all its marts; 

So who may know how well the race is run 
Until we crown the victor soon or late ? 

The faith that keeps on fighting is the one 
That keeps on living—yes, and growing great! 

Wilbur D. Nesbit. 

Now, that we have given you some names that 
will, in days to come, be illustrious in the noble army 
of the prohibition hosts among men, we will mention 


222 




HON. CHARLES R. JONES. 



























































































































































































Fallacies of Our National Government. 


the names of some women, who deserve equal) renown 
in the grand organization know as the Woman's Chris¬ 
tian Temperance Union, which has been instrumental 
in saving the lives of thousands — yes, hundreds of 
thousands of men and women, boys and girls, from 
lives of sin and shame, which our grand and glorious 
national government would force upon them. Their 
work began immediately at the close of the Civil war 
which had fastened drinking habits upon so many of 
the returned soldiers. And right here, permit us to say 
that President Lincoln consented to the internal rev¬ 
enue tax upon spiritous and malt liquors ONLY as a 
war measure, and not to be continued. Some very 
prominent people of to-day believe that it was the 
liquor element of that day, that had President Lincoln 
put out of the way, so that they might be allowed to 
carry on their murderous traffic. Whether this is a 
fact or not, why should any one wonder at it, when 
they are murdering m<en, women and children to-day 
by the hundreds of thousands? 

Following the Civil war, came a vast influx of for¬ 
eign immigration, bringing with it the drinking habits 
of the old world. 

The widening of woman's horizon, through the 
work she had accomplished during the war, made it 
inevitable that when that work was no longer neces¬ 
sary she should turn her thought to the overcoming of 
the great foe of all homes, north and south. For years 
Mary A. Livermore, the organizer of the Sanitary Com¬ 
mission Fair, had been saying, “The temperance ques¬ 
tion can never be settled until women take hold of it." 
She but voiced a conviction rapidly growing in the pub- 


223 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


lie mind. When women had tested their powers in 
other lines of endeavor, the hour struck and they took 
hold. 

The crusade proper began in 1873 and from that 
time on, the grand women of our country have kept up 
a constant warfare. The work they have done and the 
victories they have won, men, women, boys and girls 
saved by and through their heroic efforts, would fill 
volumes. Therefore, the writer cannot attempt to re¬ 
late only an infinitesimal portion of it. So permit us 
to mention the names of some of the prominent ones. 

These are Mrs. Eliza J .T. Thompson, who led the 
crusading band at Hillsboro, Ohio; Mrs. M. G. Car¬ 
penter of Washington Court House, “Mother” Stewart 
of Springfield, Ohio, Mrs. Mattie McClelland Brown 
and Mrs. H. C. McCabe of Ohio, Mrs. Jennie Fowler 
Willing and Mrs. Emily Huntington Miller of Illinois, 
Mrs. Zerelda G. Wallace and Miss Auretta Hoyt of In¬ 
diana, Mrs. Annie Wittenmyer of Pennsylvania, Mrs. 
Mary C. Johnson and Mis3 Margaret Winslow of New 
York, Mary A. Livermore and Mrs. Susan S. Gifford of 
Massachusetts. 

It was at a convention held in Cleveland, Ohio, 
November 1874, that the National Women’s Chris¬ 
tian Temperance Union was organized. It was there 
that Miss Frances E. Willard, that magnificent woman, 
whose name has rung true and whose praises have been 
sung throughout the civilized world, became known. 

Some one has said he would rather be right than 
be president. 

So here is a woman who is greater than any presi¬ 
dent since the time of Lincoln, and she will not only be 


224 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


so recorded by future writers of history, but she will 
be found among the brightest stars of heaven. It was 
she who gave utterance to the following resolution, 
offered at the first convention of the W. C. T. U.:— 

“Resolved, that recognizing the fact that our 
cause is, and will be combatted by mighty, determined 
and relentless forces, we will, trusting in Him who is 
the Prince of Peace, meet argument with argument, 
mis judgment with patience, denunciation with kind¬ 
ness, and all our difficulties and dangers with prayer.” 

Since Miss Willard departed to wear her heavenly 
crown of glory, other brave and noble women have 
continued the good work. Among the excellent women 
who have the work in charge to-day are Mrs. Lillian 
M. N. Stevens, Miss Anna A. Gordon, Mrs. Frances P. 
Parks, Mrs. Elizabeth P. Anderson, Mrs. Sara H. Hoge 
and Mrs. Elizabeth P. Hutchinson. 

Our appreciation would be incomplete, should we 
fail to mention that splendid,—yes, magnificent move¬ 
ment, that has for its end the granting of suffrage to 
woman. Some of the noblest, purest, most refined and 
dignified women in our land, are identified with this 
great undertaking. Not only this, but they are sup¬ 
ported by the very best and highest type of manhood. 
We cannot see how any fair-minded man would try for 
a moment to prevent woman from voting and the 
writer has no hesitancy in saying that he firmly be¬ 
lieves that if the women of this country had been 
granted suffrage, five years ago, we would not have so 
much sin and shame confronting us to-day. 

God created woman with a much tenderer heart 
and more sympathetic nature than He gave to man, 


225 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


and it is for this reason, more than any other, that 
woman can more fully appreciate what her sisters have 
to endure. 

Take out of this wicked world all the good things 
that have come to us through the agency of woman 
and life would not be worth living. How many men in 
this world, have acknowledged their success in life to 
a good mother, wife or sister, yes,—or sweetheart? 
Many a man has stared failure in the face and would 
have given up in despair, but for a noble wife who 
cheered him on. So we glory in the approach of the 
day when our women can register their votes for all 
that is pure and good and against all that is corrupt 
and debasing. 

Woman!—We find her rocking the cradle. We go 
upon the battle field, where men are wounded or killed 
and whose blood runs down hillside, staining the grass 
of valley and plain. 

We can hear all thru the battle the moans and 
prayers of the wounded and dying soldiers, and at their 
side we find woman and her kind and sympathetic 
heart. 

She binds the soldiers’ lacerated flesh and broken 
bones, and speaks to the dying words of comfort and 
cheer. 

Too often men only quote a portion of Sir Walter 
Scott’s poem: 

“0, Woman! in our hours of ease, 

Uncertain, coy, and hard to please, 

And variable as the shade 
By the light quivering aspen made; 

When pain and anguish wring the brow, 


226 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


A ministering angel thou!— 

Scarce were the piteous accents said, 

When, with the Baron’s casque, the maid 
To the nigh streamlet ran: 

Forgot were hatred, wrongs, and fears; 

The plaintive voice alone she hears, 

Sees but the dying man, 

She stooped her by the runnel’s side, 

But in abhorrence backward drew; 

For, oozing from the mountain’s side, 

Where raged the war, a dark-red tide 
Was curdling in the streamlet blue. 

Where shall she turn ?—behold her mark 
A little fountain cell, 

Where water, clear as diamond-spark, 

In a stone basin fell. 

Above, some half-worn letters say 
Drink, weary pilgrim, drink and pray. 

For the kind soul of Sybil Grey 
Who built this cross and well. 

She filled the helm, and back she hied, 

And with surprise and joy espied 
A monk supporting Marmion’s head: 

A pious man, whom* duty brought 
To dubious verge of battle fought, 

To shrieve the dying, bless the dead. 

We go to the hospital and we find her there, min¬ 
istering to the sick and dying. 

We go to the bedside of father, brother, sister, 
mother or children, and we find her there. 

We find her in the homes of the poor and needy; 


227 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


we find her working in the slums to lift up the fallen; 
we find her in foreign fields, where she goes to carry 
the gospel of Christ. 

We find her singing and praying in the jails and 
penitentiaries to the imprisoned. Wherever good is to 
be done, you will find woman. So why prevent her 
from casting a ballot to right a dreadful wrong in 
which she is vitally interested? She knows from per¬ 
sonal contact what woman has to suffer, and the man 
who would debar her from this privilege should be 
classed with the Indians of old, who made the squaws 
carry the heavy game home from the hunting expedi¬ 
tion while they walked home empty handed. * * * 

This truly is an age of clubs. We hear of men’s 
and women’s clubs on every hand, social, athletic, fra¬ 
ternal and religous. We dare say none of these is of 
as much importance as the Men’s Church Clubs, or 
Brotherhood Societies, having for their object the 
bringing together of the men in our various churches 
as well as the uplifting of men. 

This is a grand move in the right direction, for if 
we recognize the Fatherhood of God, we are compelled 
to acknowledge the brotherhood of man, and if we do 
the latter, it is not reasonable to suppose we will do 
anything to injure our brothers, unless we are going 
to be the kind of brother Cain was. And if we are to 
admit the universal brotherhood of man, the kind that 
Christ taught, while in the flesh, we can not say to 
those whom we meet at church, “you are a good fellow” 
and then when the opportunity offers, do him harm. 
Paul said, “If meat maketh my brother to offend I will 
eat no meat while the world stands.” Those of us who 


228 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


are old enough to know do not think for a moment 
that Paul had reference merely to abstaining from the 
use of meat, but meant that he would refrain from any¬ 
thing that would cause any one to err. He was deter¬ 
mined that no one should go wrong by reason of any¬ 
thing he did as well as the things he might fail to do. 

Our Church Brotherhood movement is new, but if 
we intend to use our full strength and influence for the 
uplift of man we will have to determine that we will do 
all in our power to overthrow everything that tends to 
pull our brothers and fellowmen down. We cannot 
afford to play the hypocrite, see them walk into fire 
and watch them burn awhile, and when they come out, 
say to them “we are sorry.” We have had entirely too 
m,uch of this kind of religion in our land. This is the 
trouble with church people to-day. The church has 
been standing in its own light for many years, and not 
only this, but it has been making a big shadow for some 
people to walk in. The millions, without the walls, 
know this and have wondered at it, and this is one of the 
things the Brotherhood movement will have to remedy. 

The General Religion Forward Movement is the 
latest undertaking of the men of our church. If we 
define the word Forward we get “ready,” “prompt,” 
“ardent,” “eager” and “earnest.” Taking these mean¬ 
ings for granted as used in connection with religion in 
this movement we will start on our m^arch with banners 
reading something like the following, “The world for 
Christ,” “No Compromise,” “A Fight to the Finish,” 
“Away with Sin,” “Down with Everything That Pulls 
Man Down,” “Destruction to All That Oppresses 
Womankind and Childhood,” “Devastation to the Sa- 


229 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


loons, Gambling Dens and White Slave Traffic,” “Down 
with Rich Oppressors.” 

Marching under such banners as we have named 
mean sure victory if we make God and Christ the lead¬ 
ers of our armies against sin. But if we are going to 
continue to stumble over dead men's bodies, which we 
have voluntarily placed in the line of march, then we 
cannot hope to succeed. We cannot afford to close one 
eye to a certain evil and wink at equally great evils 
with the other. 

We cannot kick one evil out of the way and shake 
hands with another. We must not stamp our approval 
upon the ballot of any political party that upholds the 
very things that our banners declare against. This 
has been and is to-day the greatest curse to our 
churches. We have allowed the devil to fool us into 
the belief that we can go along with one or the other 
of the two old political parties and be good Christians. 
It is an utter impossibility, so long as they stand for 
the iniquitous things they have been upholding for so 
many years. 

It is said it took a certain politician 20 years to 
find out that it was the liquor element in his party 
which was causing his defeat, and yet he still hangs to 
his party. 

This same man has been invited to join another 
party in which he could be a power, and instead of 
using his talents for the devil use them for God, and 
help overthrow not only his enemies but the enemies 
of all men, women, children, God and the church, but 
perhaps he is like the other politician, spoken of else- 


230 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


where, who said he would “go to hell with his beloved 
country.” 

We have all been too eager to compromise is the 
reason we have not advanced any further. Let us 
change our methods in these “new movements” for the 
betterment of man. Let us displace apathy with deter¬ 
mination, indifference with a true conception of our 
duty to “make good” our soul inspiring slogan and then 
God will look with great favor upon us and the Men 
and Religion Forward Movement will go down in his¬ 
tory as one of the greatest agencies ever inaugurated 
for the uplift of fallen man, strengthening of the 
church and advancement of God’s kingdom on earth. 

The Young Men’s Christian Association is another 
grand movement for the elevation of humanity, not 
alone in our land but throughout the civilized world, 
world. 

It has its buildings in every important city in our 
country and a large number of small cities and towns 
in all of which it is doing a magnificent work. It has 
its educational and physical development departments 
as well as religious training. Many boys and young 
men have been saved from lives of sin through its 
agency^ 

It is one place that a young man or an old man 
either can go and feel perfectly at home. 

It has done a great work for those employed by 
the railroad companies, many of which have estab¬ 
lished special branches along their lines, so that em¬ 
ployes can have reading rooms and the advantages of 
Christian influences. 

As illustrating what some prominent railroad corn- 


231 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


pany presidents think of the Y. M. C. A/s and their 
work, a delegation of young men from the Association 
called on a certain prominent man, who is president of 
a great company, in reference to establishing some 
branches along the line which he controlled. On oc- 
count of his religious belief being somewhat different 
from theirs, they refrained from speaking of the relig¬ 
ious features of their work but only the educational 
and others, citing what had been accomplished along 
the lines of other companies of which this particular 
president had knowledge. When they had told him 
everything they could think of, he said, “Well, have 
you said all you can, in favor of your institution, and 
its work ?” They replied in the affirmative, and he said, 
“You have left out the most important part of your 
work.” 

This, of course, almost took their breath, and they 

said, “What is that, Mr. -?” He replied, “The 

religious feature.” This taught those young men such 
a good lesson, it is said, they never failed after that 
rebuke to mention the foundation of their work. 

An organization that is so much interested in the 
salvation of young rr^en, as to have its workers stand 
on street coners of our larger cities on the coldest 
nights in winter often facing blinding snowstorms, in 
order to hand out invitations to their religious meet¬ 
ings, deserves the highest commendation from all 
classes of men. It is such grand, self-sacrificing work 
as this, that brings young men in from the storms of 
life and would-be ship wrecks to a haven of rest and 
safety. It is such glorious work as this which make 
the young men of our land flock to the hundreds of 


232 




Fallacies of Our National Government. 


buildings of this magnificent institution, so beneficial 
in its influence over young and old alike. 

The writer has spent many happy moments in the 
reading rooms, gymnasium, lecture and religious ser¬ 
vice rooms of the Y. M. C. A. in many cities of our 
country and has met some very fine men in various 
walks of life, both young and old, who took pleasure in 
stating that they had been greatly benefited, morally, 
socially, religiously and otherwise by its influences. 
The very fact that their reading rooms are open to 
men keeps many from going into saloons or gambling 
dens. 

The Association also supports very high class 
entertainers, who travel from one city to another dur¬ 
ing the winter months. The majority of young men 
who attend the Association look forward with great 
pleasure to evenings when they can sit together and 
enjoy not only clean and wholesome amusement, but 
the very best talent obtainable. 

These entertainments are not for men only, but 
a young man can take his sweetheart, wife, mother, 
or sister and they have an opportunity to see what a 
great advantage it is for a young man to have mem¬ 
bership in such an excellent organization. 

The gymnasium develops fine athletic talent. They 
give exhibitions on certain days and the women are 
sometimes admitted to these. Then come the swim¬ 
ming pools and baths. After a young man has met 
other young men of good character and has gone 
through the gymnastic exercises, taken his shower 
bath and had a good rub-down, he goes upon the street 
feeling clean and brave, both physically and spiritually, 


233 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


and he has no desire to visit saloons and other degrad¬ 
ing places, or to associate with those who do. * * * 

While the forces of evil are great, the powers 
against evil are becoming mightier every day, and this 
chapter, which deals with the powers that are com¬ 
batting the evil forces, would be incomplete if we 
should fail to mention a Christian organization which, 
although young, has become a giant for good. 

We refer to the Holy Name Society, of the Catholic 
Church, having for its object the teaching of men to 
reverence the name of God. An organization that has 
such an exalted purpose deserves the highest praise of 
every one, both in and out of any and all churches. 
The Bible tells us not to take the name of God in vain, 
and that God will not hold him guiltless who does pro¬ 
fane his Holy Name. The promoters of this grand 
order could not have selected a better name for it, for 
the name commands reverence. 

All of those beautiful and helpful movements of 
recent years show that God is working in the hearts 
and mjnds of both men and women for the advance¬ 
ment of His kingdom upon earth. 

What can you find or think of, more inspiring than 
a company of men, marching our streets and singing 
praises to the Great Jehovah? Such occurrences cause 
men to pause and think, yes, and hesitate in the future 
about profaning the name of their Creator. 

What is more needed than anything else, is to get 
men to pause and think. 

A great many men take the name of God in vain 
thoughtlessly, the same as some men kill others on the 


234 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


impulse of the moment, and go either to the gallows or 
the penitentiary, regretting their hasty act. 

The great majority of men vote the same way. If 
they would only think seriously, before voting, who 
and what they are voting for, a good many of them 
would vote differently. 

Voting is a business, the same as selling merchan¬ 
dise, if you will consider it in the right light, for does 
not politics affect our business? And voting not only 
has its business side, but it has its religious side. You 
hear some people say, “Oh, we don't believe in taking 
politics into religion!” Neither does the writer, but he 
does believe in taking our religion into politics. If this 
were done, we would not have the corrupt politics in 
town, city, state and nation which has disgraced our 
country from one end to the other. We would not be 
sending nearly three-quarters of a million men and 
women to drunkards' graves each year. We would not 
allow our girls and women to be sold by the thousands 
as slaves—yes, slaves, and a worse form of slavery 
than existed in the South, a good many years ago. If 
we would only reflect we would cease voting for things 
that are filling our jails, penitentiaries and asylums 
and not only doing the unfortunate people we send 
there an injustice, but it is increasing the burden of 
taxation, already too heavy. If we would consider our 
responsibility for all these gross injustices, we no doubt 
would act quite differently. 

Yes, the Holy Name Society is doing a good work. 
But let our good brothers go a step further and cast 
their votes to put out of existence the thing that causes 
more men to profane the name of God than any other 


235 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


one cause. Then if we all work together we will dig 
this gigantic evil up, roots, stock and branches, making 
a bonfire at which all good people can rejoice. 

We cannot hope to accomplish the great and last¬ 
ing results we should, so long as we leave untouched 
the very evil that is causing the trouble. * * * * 

There is another element we desire to consider, 
viz: the farmer. The farmer has been led to believe 
for a number of years that the brewers and distillers 
were his friends and made business for him, by using 
about one-twentieth of his corn, rye and barley and by 
taking this small quantity of certain grains, they were 
enabling him to get better prices for the balance. But 
if the truth were known the farmer would awake to the 
fact that the families of the big majority of drinking 
men would consume more bread if the husband and 
father did not spend so much for liquor and that about 
three quarters of a million bread consumers are sent 
to their graves each year. How much bread would 
they eat ? And not only bread, but everything else the 
farmer produces. Instead of the farmers profiting by 
reason of the brewers and distillers they are constant 
losers. 

But there is another mpre important side to this 
question which vitally concerns the farmer, and that is 
his sons and daughters who are constantly leaving the 
farms for the towns and cities. They have been 
brought up under good influences and have not had the 
temptations of the cities to contend with. When they 
arrive in town or city they are at oncq surrounded by 
saloons, clubs and evil companions. How many farm¬ 
ers’ boys and girls have gone to the cities, with 


236 




Fallacies of Our National Government. 


mother’s and father’s prayers, that they might be 
saved from the snares and pitfalls which await them? 
The son meets a young man in office or shop who has 
“been the rounds” and he asks John to go along some 
night. He will “show him a good time.” They go to a 
questionable theatre and see things that would make 
dear old mother and father blush with shame. After 
the “show is over” the young man invites John to 
“stop in” and “have one” on their way hom,e. John 
says, “Oh! but I don’t drink.” His companion says, 
“Well, go in and have a ‘soft drink,’ a ginger ale, or 
pop.” John does not want to appear “soft,” or un¬ 
friendly, so he goes in and takes a “pop.” The next 
evening they go out, the “friend” (?) invites him to 
“go in” and have “another one” and when he says he 
will take a ginger ale, his companion says, “Oh, why 
don’t you take something stronger? Don’t you see all 
these fellows grinning at you? Show them that you 
are no baby, by calling for a beer.” He pokes fun at 
John until he yields. John continues to drink beer for 
awhile, until he is finally persuaded to take wine and 
then whiskey. One Saturday night they “mix it” by 
having beer, wine and whiskey and John becomes so 
badly intoxicated he cannot return to his borading 
house and his “friend” takes him to a “questionable 
hotel.” John wakes the next morning (Sunday) with 
a big head, and blood-shot eyes, and he is ashamed to 
return to his boarding house until evening. This is the 
first Sunday John had ever missed Sunday school or 
church, and he felt very much ashamed of himself. 
But the habit had so fastened itself upon him he could 
not break away. He went from bad to worse—until he 


237 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


was completely ruined and poor old father’s and 
mother’s hearts were broken as well as those of sisters 
and brothers. 

The daughter came to the city, obtaining a posi¬ 
tion as stenographer. For a few weeks she holds her¬ 
self aloof from* the young men in the office. Finally 
she accepts an invitation to a “nice play,” which is only 
a bait. The young man is very polite at the start and 
makes a good impression on Mary and thus he gains her 
confidence. The plays to which he takes her become a 
little more “shady” each time until they get into “real 
vaudeville.” On the way to the boarding house they 
stop in at a cafe to get a light lunch. The “gentleman 
friend” insists on Mary having a glass of wine and 
when she declines he says, “Why, all the young ladies 
drink wine!—just look around the room a little, at the 
handsome girls in here, and you will notice that nearly 
every one of them has wine on the table.” And so they 
did, and after a little more persuasion, poor Mary 
yielded. 

The next evening they were out to a public dance 
hall, and the young man insisted upon her learning to 
dance. He said he could teach her in a short while. 
So Mary learned to dance and drink wine and beer 
between dances to “brace her up.” 

This continued for some months but gradually got 
worse until Mary was discharged as stenographer in 
disgrace and went down the Broad Road to destruc¬ 
tion. 

These things have happened to farmers’ boys and 
girls thousands of times. They will continue to happen 
as long as we have saloons. It is to the interest of the 


238 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


farmers to vote the Prohibition ticket and have a 
larger sale for all their products as well as safe-guard¬ 
ing the lives of their sons and daughters who come to 
the city to make a living and gain fame in the world. 

It is said, (and truthfully) that the laboring men 
are the brawn and brain of our country. So the writer 
must not close and ring down the curtain, until he has 
said something of the magnificent men who earn their 
living by honest toil. 

Some, yes, a great many, of America’s bravest and 
noblest sons and most beautiful daughters have come 
from the homes of the poor, but honorable parents. It 
is a pity to see so many “would-be” noble workmen 
spoiled by that Demon, called drink; yet it is true. 
Many men, who could and would rise to the topmost 
rung of the ladder, are dragged in the mire of disgrace 
and poverty by rum. Many a poor workman has lost 
his life while under the influence of liquor. If this 
were all of the story and of the evil effects of drink 
upon the workingman, it would be bad enough, but it 
is not. There yet remains the poor suffering wife at 
home, compelled to undergo all kinds of hardships and 
privations on account of a drinking husband. And not 
only this, think of the poor innocent children who are 
the victims. Here is James, a very bright little chap, 
who would do honor to any nice home, and might be¬ 
come famous if given the advantages that sobriety, 
frugality and industry confers by inheritance, but he 
is forced, thru both poverty and shame, to remain in 
dark and dingy quarters, in rags and tags, with only 
a crust of dry bread and forced to sleep in a dirty little 
bed on the floor in the corner. 


239 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


And there is little Jennie, with her bright, blue 
eyes and golden curls, but cheeks made pale by hunger 
and foul air, who if given an opportunity to develop 
latest talents, might well grace the drawing room of and 
vie in intellectual accomplishments with the daughter 
of a king, prevented only by her squalid surroundings 
and wine-debauched father. Yet we are told that we 
are not “our brother’s keeper.” 

James and Jennie are ashamed to be seen upon the 
street, because of the rags they are forced to wear. 
They cannot attend day school or Sunday school where 
they would love to be and where they could mingle their 
fair voices with those of other children. But no, such 
happiness is not for poor little James and Jennie, be¬ 
cause Papa spends nearly all he makes at the corner 
saloon. The saloon keeper, who is robbing these poor, 
sweet little children of the bare necessities of life, lives 
in a magnificent home out on the boulevard; a part of 
the great city that little James and Jennie know noth¬ 
ing of. His children have not only all the necessaries 
of life, but any number of luxuries. When the glad 
Christmas tide comes they are showered with beauti¬ 
ful and costly presents. They have their pony and cart 
and can be seen driving thru the beautiful parks. 
Father and mother have an up-to-date auto, and, should 
they meet the father of poor little Jam«es and Jennie 
upon the highway they would not know him and no 
doubt would say, “Look at that vagabond.” Yes, he is 
a vagabond, Mr. Saloonkeeper, because you have made 
him one. If he could only get his eyes open and all 
the others who are patronizing your hell-shop could do 
the same thing, you would soon have to close up and 


240 




THE SALOON-KEEPER’S HOME, 










THE HOVEL OF POOR LITTLE JAMES AND JENNIE. 







Fallacies of Our National Government. 


look for a legitimate occupation. Then poor little 
James and Jennie could have a respectable father, 
home and clothes and be happy, as God intended they 
should be. 

So let the millions of good, brave workingmen of 
our country wake up to what is happening to thousands 
of their fellow men, and help throw off this hellish 
yoke of hellish bondage, that they, too, may be able to 
rise to their full powers and look heavenward, instead 
of facing shame, degradation, a drunkard's grave and 
hell. * * * * 

We have mentioned the Prohibitionists, the W. 
C. T. U., the Men's Church Clubs, Men and Religion 
Forward Movement, Young Men's Christian Associa¬ 
tion and Holy Name Society; also the farmers and 
working m,en. Here we have an array of the very best 
and strongest elements in our country that can accom¬ 
plish anything they undertake. As stated in the be¬ 
ginning of this chapter, the church has had it in its 
power for a number of years to overthrow the evils of 
which we have been writing, and the church member¬ 
ship is largely made up of the different classes we have 
mentioned. But there are others, who include prac¬ 
tically every honorable walk in life. All are affected 
by the curse, either directly or indirectly, and should 
unite for its extirpation. 

We refer to our country as a Christian land, but 
to do so under existing circumstances, is mockery. It is 
awful to think that he church is responsible for the 
terrible condition of affairs herein mentioned. 

We know, of a certainty, that our Government is 
not Christian, and as conducted at present, were it not 


241 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


for the infinite tenderness and mercy of God, it might 
well have meted out to it the fate of Sodom and Gomor¬ 
rah, and justly so. But thanks to the all-merciful and 
loving God there are sufficient Christian people in the 
land to save it from such deporable doom. 

There is no doubt in the mjnd of the writer, that 
if the churches and Christian people generally would 
wake up and do their full duty this terrible curse and all 
its attendant train of evils, could be utterly consumed 
and the places that know it now would know it no more 
forever. Yes, the writer even believes that they would 
be overthrown at the next Presidential election. And if 
the Christians and so-called Christians would do this 
God would pour out benefits and blessings upon us as 
a nation far beyond the mind of man to conceive, so far 
beyond our deserts as to defy description. 

This country has never seen real prosperity com¬ 
pared with what God would give us, if we would do our 
duty toward Him and our fellow man. 

Every one who has read the Old Testament recalls 
how God blessed the Israelites when they listened to 
Him and threw off their sins and how he punished 
them when they disobeyed Him. What is He going to 
do with us if we do not rise up and overthrow the 
curses that are upon us ? 

A Christian gentleman said to the writer one day, 
when we were discussing the liquor traffic, that if the 
men of this country did not hurry up and do their duty, 
God would find another way to carry out His great 
plans. God has done this before and will do it again, 
if necessary. Can the men of this country afford to 
remain inactive regarding this grave question until the 


242 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


women come into their rights and allow them to put 
them to shame? Yes, and have it recorded in history 
that the men of this country failed to do their duty and 
God used the women to bring about the great reforma¬ 
tions He desired? This is exactly what will happen 
and the writer is inclined to the belief that the year 
1912 will be the men's last oportunity to redeem them¬ 
selves by acting independent of the women. 

Let us wake up, men, and acquit ourselves like 
men. Let us throw off this lethargy and save our 
fellowmen, our women and children from this great 
curse which holds our people in its strong, but repulsive 
grasp. Let our ministers and especially those who 
have been comparatively inactive, begin to talk to their 
congregations about their responsibility in refer¬ 
ence to the matter. Let them not only preach in words 
but by moving pictures. Let them, tell the public of 
the financial benefits that will come with the over¬ 
throw of this traffic, which is a drain upon all kinds of 
legitimate business, not only robbing them of business, 
but imposing heavier taxes in order to support a neces¬ 
sary large police force, extra jails and penitentiaries. 
Yes, and let the Men's Clubs and the Men and Religion 
Forward Movement and the Young Men's Christian 
Association adopt the same course. 

Let the business men talk to their employes and 
the farmers to their sons and the laboring men to 
their companions and then we will see victory perch 
upon our banners. 

When we do these things and the evil is extirpated, 
the foreign countries will no longer be able to say “Send 
us more missionaries and less rum." Then America 


243 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


will be like a great city set on a mountain, sending 
forth its rays of light to all parts of the world. There 
will be no more “Forgotten Millions.” Then we could 
truthfully inscribe on our m,oney “In God We Trust.” 
Then it would be be, that our land would flow with milk 
and honey and our children would rise up and call us 
blessed. So let us all, both white and colored, Protes¬ 
tant, Catholic and Jew, churchman and non-churchman 
do our duty. Then we all can sing from the depths of 
our hearts, with one strong, united voice: 

My country, ’tis of thee, 

Sweet land of liberty, 

Of thee I sing; 

Land where my fathers died, 

Land of the pilgrims’ pride, 

From every mountain side, 

Let Freedom ring. 

My native country, thee, 

Land of the noble free, 

Thy name I love; 

I love thy rocks and rills. 

Thy woods and templed hills; 

My heart with rapture thrills 
Like that above. 

Let music swell the breeze, 

And ring from all the trees, 

Sweet fredom’s song; 

Let mortal tongues awake, 

Let all that breathe partake, 


244 



Fallacies of Our National Government. 


Let rocks their silence break. 
The sound prolong! 

Our fathers' God to Thee, 
Author of Liberty, 

To Thee we sing; 

Long may our land be bright 
With freedom’s holy light, 
Protect us by Thy might, 
Great God, our King; 

FINIS. 


245 



NOV 3 1912 



























